


Circles

by Arrku



Series: Yo Arnold! - Highschool Hijinx [1]
Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Gen, High School, Multi, Original Character(s), episodic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-03-11 00:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13513125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arrku/pseuds/Arrku
Summary: "After finding his parents in San Lorenzo, 6th grade passes and Arnold moves back to the country with his parents for 2 years to help with the Helpers for Humanity, until he comes back to Hillwood for high school. But what changed in those 2 years he was gone?"My "what if" idea on what a season 6 could entail if it were to be set in a high school setting.This story is meant to keep characters as "in character" as possible, while not being afraid to develop them further than they were in the show. This is not a fluff fic. It's meant to just be good general story telling with a cohesive and meaningful plot that all ties together. I try not to insert anything that won't ever go anywhere. My stories are all roughed out ahead of time and all have endings.This fanfic is also littered with drawings and doodles because I'm more of a visual story-teller! Picture book time yay!





	1. Urban Jungle

**Author's Note:**

> There are some things that happened between TJM and this time period that will slowly be revealed in flashbacks. 
> 
> Be warned: This isn’t your traditional fic. It’s designed as an alternative multi-story idea for a series set in high school. It is episodic, with each story centered on certain characters or a situation. It’s meant to challenge character relationships and generally be interesting to read. I try to keep characters as canon as possible, while not being afraid to develop them further from the original show. 
> 
> P.S. - There are a lot of crazy shenanigans. Beware.

_Dear Arnold,  
_  
_My bittersweet, cornflower haired boy ripped so tragically from my life, all too soon._  
_Although our love was short lived, it echoes within my heart every day and reminds me how both cruel and sweet this world can be. Did your feelings for me cause such an ache in your heart as well that you could not bring yourself to write me these past years? Or have the jungles consumed your head as well as your time? I hope, whatever the reason, that you’ll be ready for a loving embrace upon your return… I cannot wait to see you again.  
_  
_Love,_  
  
…  
  
Helga stared blankly at her lavish cursive handwriting and scowled, grabbed the page full of garbled mush, and crumbled it up into her fist.  
  
_Hey Football Head,  
_  
_I heard you’re coming back to Hillwood for high school. Sheesh, took you long enough. Did the jungle eat you or what? Well hit me up when you get back, or I’ll pound ya.  
_  
_Sincerely, Helga_  
  
  
  
  
Helga looked down at her new version and smiled with a single, furrowed brow.  
Much better.  
  
“HELGA. Come clean up your dishes already, I’m not gonna ask twice!” The voice of Big Bob Pataki boomed through the house, and Helga’s smile was quickly washed off her face.  
  
“Keep your pants on, I’m coming!” she howled back, taking another look at her note before ripping it out of the journal and stuffing it unceremoniously into a nearby envelope.  
  
A knock at her door, and it opened before she could answer it.  
  
“Sweety, I think you should do the dishes now. Your father starts to sound like a bear that just woke up from hibernation when he sees dirty dishes.”  
  
Helga stomped over and grabbed her door, waving her hand in front of her face at the smell of her mother’s breath.  
  
“Crimedy Miriam! How much have you had? No wonder he’s pissed.”  
  
“Oh it was just a small get together for work, and you know they just have those cute little drinks with the umbrellas in them,” She laughed to herself, going on about it.  
  
Helga just raised an eyebrow, grabbing her mom’s shoulder and pushed her upright again as she wobbled from the door. Then she heaved a sigh.  
  
“Okay MOM. I’ll be right down! Why don’t you go lay down and head for bed?” Helga’s agreeing tone could not have sounded more fake.  
  
Miriam smiled. “You know that sounds like a nice idea, I am pretty tired. Thank you for being so helpful, Helga.”  
  
And with that, her mother was down the hall and into her own bedroom.  
  
Helga just looked disappointed. “90 days sober aaaand, we’re back to square one.”  
  
Sighing, she closed her door and walked back into her room.  
  
She looked into the mirror near her desk. Her blond bangs were uneven, the rest of her hair loosely hanging down along her back, giving her a look that she really just did not care. Her jacket and jeans as garments gave her a tomboy appearance. She’d given up the girly attire years ago for more practicality.  
  
_I haven’t worn that bow and dress since he left…_  
  
Her distant eyes slowly wandered down to her desk drawer. She reached out to open it.  
  
There was something pink and nostalgic about the material that greeted her upon opening it.

* * *

   
The glow of a bonfire was a beacon of light in the dense jungle trees. It could probably be seen by helicopter with how much it stood out.   
A long stick with a marshmallow skewered onto it appeared near the flames, before it was joined by two neighboring sticks.   
  
Arnold sat on a log with his two parents on either side of him as they toasted their snacks. The surrounding sounds of the jungle trees and the nocturnal critters were providing an ambient soundtrack to the crackling fire.  
A fun dessert before bed, and before the big day. It was his mom's idea.   
  
Before Arnold could get too deep into thoughts about returning to Hillwood however, the silence was broken.  
  
“So champ, excited to get back to your old stomping grounds?” His dad, Miles,  elbowed him playfully in the chest.  
  
“Yeah, heh. It’s gonna be crazy seeing everyone after two years.” Arnold responded in his reasonably well mannered tone.  
  
“You’ll do just fine sweetie. I’m sure everyone is going to be thrilled to see you again!” His mom, Stella, reassured.  
  
“Yeah…” Arnold smiled, but his eyes had a tinge of worry in them. “You don’t think any of them will be mad about the lack of communication, do you?”  
  
His parents both looked at each other, then smiled back at Arnold.  
  
“Oh Arnold, I wish this city had a better postage system,” Stella began.  
  
“And internet connection…” her husband interrupted.  
  
“Dear, that’s not the city's fault; that’s just the fact that we travel in the middle of nowhere all the time.” She gave Miles a look to not interrupt her, and he smiled back innocently. Stella looked back to her son.  
  
“But I’m sure the messages you were able to send were meaningful and help keep in touch.” She laid a hand on Arnold’s shoulder. He looked up and gave her a weak smile.  
  
“Gerald’s been giving me the lowdown on most things, but I just feel like less and less of my friends have been keeping in touch, and I wonder if they’ll still wanna hang out when I get back home, you know?”  
  
“Did you tell him when you were flying in?”  
  
“Yeah, the day before school starts tomorrow. He said he would let everyone know.”  
  
“So what are you worried about then!” Miles patted Arnold hardily on the back. Arnold nearly dropped his stick. “I bet everyone is going to want to hear all about your time here and it’ll be like you never left!”  
  
“I hope so.” Arnold smiled up at his dad, although he really wasn't much shorter than him anymore.  
  
Arnold and his dad took bites out of their marshmallows and seemingly out of nowhere, Stella asked, “What about that little girlfriend of yours? How’s she been?”  
  
Arnold nearly choked on his marshmallow. Miles whacked him on the back with light-hearted amusement.  
  
“Helga?” Arnold looked flustered, “She’s not my girlfriend, mom...”  
  
“And who's fault is that?" she jibbed, "I really liked her, and you two were so cute together! What happened?” Stella had that embarrassingly all-knowing mom gaze as she made her comments, and Arnold would have rather swam in water infested with 4-foot leeches.  
  
“I-it’s complicated.” he bashfully said, looking at his dad with all the expression as if he were screaming ‘HELP’.  
Miles winked at his son, with an ‘I got this’ response.  
  
“SO are you gonna miss your old man when you’re diving into the shark pit of high school?!”  
  
“Hahaha of course.” Arnold laughed, relieved to have escaped from the drilling of his mom.  
  
Stella raised an eyebrow at Arnold, as if acknowledging his sneaky maneuver out of the conversation… for now.  
  
“I warn you, Arnold, high school can be vicious! You’ve got your jocks, and geeks, and skater kids, and all those other crazy circles.”  
  
“Circles?”  
  
“Yeah! Circles! Cliques! Tight knit groups of friends! You’re either in em’ or you’re not. And you better be in them, or the bullies will get ya!” Miles was hovered over Arnold in a creepy horror movie gesture before Stella cleared her throat.  
  
“You’ll be just fine, Arnold. You’ll find a wonderful group of kids to hang out with I’m sure.”  
  
Arnold just blinked. “Well, I was just planning on hanging out with my old group of friends.”  
  
The two parents sat thoughtfully for a few seconds, before Stella spoke.   
“Sure sweetie! But remember it’s been a couple of years, and they might not all be friends with each other in the same way.”  
  
Arnold gave a crooked smile after his mom said this.  
  
“I’m telling you Arnold. Shark. Pit. Except instead of one Jaws, there’s like hundreds.” Miles eyed Arnold with a creepy stare that made Arnold look a bit startled.  
  
“Miles!” Stella threw a hot marshmallow at his face, which stuck to his cheek as he flinched.  
  
“...And don’t get me started on the women hormones. Yeesh!” He whispered loudly into Arnold’s ear.  
  
Arnold smiled hesitantly as Stella pelted her husband with more marshmallows in retaliation.   
  
Miles complained, Stella yelled a bunch, and Arnold just laughed at them both. 

* * *

  
Arnold was untucking the sheets of his sleeping bag and preparing for bed a few moments later, when Stella came into his tent.  
  
“Big day tomorrow.” She said casually, picking up a loose book from his floor and paging through it. It was a photo album of Arnold and his friends from 6th grade.  
  
“Yeah.” Arnold’s sleeping bag all set up, he turned to see what his mother was holding.  
  
“Two years out here, dragging you around the wilderness, and I wonder sometimes how much we've kept from your childhood.”  
  
Arnold walked over. She was looking at a photo of Arnold and his friends on the stoop of Sunset Arms. There were various photos laid out on the pages of his adventures with the other kids, his grandparents, his pet pig, and the other tenants. His family.  
  
“You were just making up for lost time.” Arnold smiled, looking at his mom encouragingly.  
  
She smiled back, but still, she seemed to have a hint of regret in her eyes.  
  
“I've learned a lot from the Helpers for Humanity and San Lorenzo. Helping civilians, camping in the wilderness, learning about nature and the people here. I don’t regret it at all. I just wish you both could come back with me. I… don’t want to lose you guys again.” Arnold seemed to have a hard time getting that last part out. It was still a painful feeling, remembering their absence in his heart for so long. Even after it had been filled for years now, the trauma still reminded him of how much they meant.  
  
Stella put a hand on her son’s shoulder and smiled, although her eyes had a shine to them.  
  
“I promise Arnold. Once this project is done, we'll catch the very next plane back to Hillwood. We just don't want you to miss out on the first days of high school.”  
  
“I know mom. I’m just worried about you guys.”  
  
"Well, if we run into another sleeping sickness, at least you'll know what to do." She winked at him. Arnold looked up at her and smiled.  
  
The two embraced, and a tear ran down Stella’s cheek. When they broke apart, she reached into her pants pocket.  
  
“I have something for you that I want you to take with you,” she wiped her cheek, pulling out a pendant, connected by a small rope. She put the relic into Arnold’s hands.  
It was a rough stone, embellished by a tribal eye in the middle. Arnold gasped when he recognized it. It was the same pendant that led him to the Green Eyes village years ago!  
  
"How... how did you--?" He took it from her and studied it, memories appearing behind his eyes.  
  
"Green Eyes locals found it washed up near their hunting grounds. They wanted us to give it back to you. It seemed important that we did."  
  
"And.. what about the Corazón? Did they..?"  
  
Stella shook her head. "No, but luckily they don't need it anymore. They seemed to prosthesis a reason for this turning up, though." She touched the pendant in his hands.  
  
“Mom, are you sure you want me to take this?”  
  
Stella smiled, all knowing. “They were sure.” She answered, and she kissed him on the head and turned to leave.  
  
“You've got a long trip tomorrow, so get some rest.”  
  
Arnold rubbed the priceless artifact with his fingers, then looked back up to his mom, nodding.  
  
“You’ll do great, my little Arnold.” and she left.  
  
Arnold stood there, silent, with a million mixed emotions as he handled the green-eyes pendant absently. He took the necklace and slipped it over his head, tucking the pendant under his shirt. He looked down at the album his mother was looking at and picked it up himself.  
  
He paged through it, smiling at certain photos, a chuckle here and there. Then he turned to the last portion of the book, revealing dozens of folded letters from his friends.  
  
Gerald, Sid, Harold, Stinky, Eugene, Rhonda, Phoebe, his grandpa, and several others. He smiled fondly, even though most of these were from his first year here, and he didn’t get as much snail mail recently.  
  
Still, something was missing, and it made him uneasy and hesitant as he paged back over to another old photo. In this one, Stinky, Sid and Harold were photo-bombing in the front, but you could see the main focus in the background. Arnold from the past was bending over slightly and looking back with a smile at Helga, who had one arm enthusiastically wrapped around his neck as she gave him bunny ears with her other hand, her cheeky, sassy smile showing through.  
  
Arnold gazed at the two of them in the photo for a moment, a mix of confused emotions on his face, before he shut the book and sighed, heading to bed.

* * *

  
The next morning, the three of them set off before sunrise, taking their off-roader to the main city that would fly Arnold out of the country, and back to his hometown.  
  
“We’re stopping by Eduardo’s first to pick up your plane tickets and passport! He’s going to be excited to see you off too.”  
  
Arnold smiled, gazing out the window as the sun peeked up past the horizon. The sunset was like nothing he’d ever seen anywhere else, and he’d miss seeing it. But the rush of excitement to reunite with all his old friends again overpowered this thought.

* * *

“Here you are Arnold. Oh mi, you sure have grown since we seen you last!” Eduardo passed Arnold his papers necessary for his plane travel,ruffling his fluffy hair in the process. “Tan alto. At least 2 feet!”  
  
Arnold laughed, “I haven’t grown _that_ much, Eduardo.”  
  
“Like a weed! You’re almost taller than your mother. Ahhh I still remember when you were no bigger than a little capuchin, but just as fond of getting in trouble,  eh?” He recalled with a laugh towards Miles, who nervously laughed back.

Stella looked at Eduardo as if he better not start reminiscing too much. They were on a time limit after all.  
  
Arnold picked up an envelope from the papers he was handed. “What’s this?”  
  
“Oh, that’s a letter that just came into the post office for you earlier this week! I know you’re going home today, but I figured I’d give it to you before you left.” Eduardo said.  
  
Arnold turned it over a couple times, not seeing a return address or a name. He started to finger the envelope open.  
  
“Sweetie, you can open that on the plane.” His mom suggested.  
  
“Which we really should catch soon before it leaves!” Miles hurried the two of them along before Arnold could open the curious envelope. He’d told Gerald about when he’d be back and to tell everyone else about it. Who would have been writing to him right before he was leaving?  
  
He stuffed it into his pocket as he was all but shuffled along by his father. 

* * *

  
After a tear-filled hug from his parents, and another hug for good measure, Arnold strolled backwards towards the terminal, waving to his parents with a painful smile.  
  
“We’ll go into town every week to call and see how you're doing! We won't be long behind you!” His mom called.  
  
“Okay!”  
  
“Don’t let your grandpa bully you too much! Haha!” Miles shouted across the room.  
  
“No promises!” Arnold shouted back, a big smile on his face as he entered the plane. Boy was he going to miss them, but they'd be back with him soon.  
  
Life was going to be so different now, back where it all started. After trips across islands and through wilderness, camping, sleeping in tents, and never being in the same place for more than a few months, he’d be back in his old room, with his old friends.  
  
Speaking of friends, who sent that letter?  
  
Arnold was buckled into his seat on the plane when he remembered to pull it out and opened it straight away.  
  
_“Hey football head,”_  
  
Arnold’s eyes scanned the paper and a smug smile crept onto his face as the plane began to take off.  
  



	2. Welcome Back Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arnold arrives back at Hillwood and shenanigans are already about on his first night back. Hooray for Shenanigans!

"Helga, wait up!” a familiar meek voice chimed.  
  
Helga turned to see her best friend Phoebe, running up to her from across the street. Phoebe had long, straight black hair that wistfully danced as she ran.  
  
“Hey Pheebs, ya catch the last episode of The Last King?”  
  
Phoebe blinked, “Oh! No not yet, but I was going to ask if you were coming tonight?”  
  
“Because it was GLORIOUS. Tons of blood and someone even got canned.” Helga explained wildly with expressive gestures, ignoring Phoebe’s question.  
  
“Oh, wow, well I can’t wait to see that, but as I was saying--”  
  
“Hahah yeah, I can’t believe you haven’t seen it yet. I got it downloaded on my laptop. We can watch it together tonight.”  
  
Phoebe stopped in her tracks as Helga casually walked along, hoping to get her attention.  
  
“Helga you… you DO know about Arnold’s surprise Welcome Back Party tonight, don’t you?”  
  
There was a brief pause as Helga stood with her back facing her friend. She then whipped around and gave an uncaring shrug.  
  
“Yeah, so?”  
  
“Well, I just thought, under the circumstances, that you’d be itching to go.”  
  
“Circumstances?” Helga questioned tensely.   
  
Phoebe’s expression was trying, as if she really didn’t want to have to blurt out the obvious and embarrass Helga.  
  
“Aren’t you excited to see Arnold again, Helga?”  
  
When Helga didn’t respond, and merely averted her eyes in a scowl, Phoebe went on.    
  
“I mean, the whole crew is going to be there. It’ll be great to see them all again, you know? You should really come by..”  
  
Helga didn’t budge. “So I take it that’s a no on watching the show tonight?”  
  
“I’m afraid so. I’ll be going to Sunset Arms with Gerald in a few hours to help prepare the festivities.”  
  
Finally, Helga heaved a big sigh and gave in. “FINE, I guess I’ll tag along.”  
  
“Oh good!” said Phoebe.  
  
“But I’m snagging some of the food, saying hi, and then going home. I mean sheesh! Who’s idea was it to bring the Football Head back on the day before the first day of high school anyways?! Some of us have stuff to prepare for tomorrow!” Helga threw her arms up dramatically as the two friends began to continue walking down the street.  
  
“It is a bit last minute.” Phoebe giggled, just happy to see Helga being Helga again.

* * *

  
Arnold listened to the mellow song in his headphones, gazing out or the airport window as a twinge of jazz gave the clouds below their own soundtrack. He smiled to himself, head full of daydreams from the past. Wistful scenes from his childhood played in his head as the beat of his song picked up, and he couldn't help but get lost in the memories.   
  
Beneath the clouds, contained within a familiar red-bricked building, several of those characters previously playing in Arnold's memory were setting up for a party.  
  
There seemed to be one person missing from the party, besides Arnold, however...

* * *

  
“Get it together old girl. You've got this. Just be chill. Don’t run your mouth, and you’ll be fine.”  
  
Helga paced hesitantly towards the boarding house, fussing with her hair. She’d tied the long hair back into a ponytail that stuck out in two places, similar to her hair in elementary school, but pulled back. A familiar ribbon was tied into it, and she was seriously regretting this now that she was so close to the place.  
  
_It's so girly and immature. Why am I even wearing it?_  
  
_You know why._  
  
_Errrrr shut up!_  
  
After mentally fighting about it with herself, she somehow managed to approach the old brick building and got the courage to step inside. 

  
  
  
She weaseled her way into the house without much notice, luckily. There were so many people bustled around the rooftop that they didn’t pay her much notice, but she was determined to scout out Phoebe as soon as possible before someone else approached her first. Unfortunately that determination was not enough.   
  
“Hello Helga!” Came a delightful voice.  
  
Perfect. Lila. Little Miss Perfect. Childhood rival embodying everything she was not.   
  
Helga took a breath, turned, and forced herself to greet the girl with a smile. “Hey there Lila, how’s it going? Have a fun summer?”  
  
Lila smiled, clasping her hands together just like she always did, her voice as sinfully sweet as Helga remembered.  
  
“Oh yes! Papa and I just got back from visiting the old farm, and it’s just ever so exciting to see everyone in one place again!”  
  
Helga chuckled once, “Yep, it’s like a regular old blast from the past up here eh?” Helga stood with a hand on her hip, a mild expression, trying to be overly casual.  
  
“You look really nice, Helga.” Lila complimented.  
  
Helga just scoffed in response.“Lila please, I’m wearing tattered jeans and a thrift store jacket from the 90's. And you’re wearing this..” She gestured at Lila’s gorgeous, yet humble little gown, but didn’t know how to describe it. “Well THIS. And you’re saying _I_ look nice?”  
  
Lila smiled, although it looked strained at Helga’s reaction. She waved over to someone else that was in back of Helga, and then said as she went over to greet them, “You shouldn’t question a compliment, Helga. And I was mostly referring to that cute old bow.” She giggled as she walked off.  
  
_Grrrrrrr.  
_  
Damn Lila and her all-knowing-ness. Helga hoped she’d forgotten about her ties to this stupid old thing, but the girl was pretty perceptive.  
  
Stay calm Helga, she told herself. She frowned at Lila as she walked off, her orange hair tied up in several braids that cascaded along that long, flowing dress. Way too fancy for this get up, at least. But not nearly as fancy as Rhonda’s.  
  
Speaking of which.  
  
“Ohhh now here’s a familiar face!” Helga tensed at the hoity dramatic tone of Rhonda Loyd.  
  
Only 15 years old and the girl looked like an adult model ready to walk down the aisle of some prestige fashion show.  
  
What made Helga actually surprised, however, with the burly guy she was dragging around. He looked a bit uncomfortable to be there, but smiled all the same.  
  
“This is Helga Pataki, you know, the 'tough cookie' I told you about.” She told the guy with her as they came over towards Helga. Rhonda gave her a big wink as if they shared some sisterly secret about Helga being a bully in school. She guessed 'tough cookie' was just a nice way of putting it. Helga looked unamused at the wink, but humored her with a smile.  
  
“Rhonda Rhonda. Long time no see. So who’s the hunk?”  
  
Rhonda laughed over-dramatically as she pressed her hand against his chest and introduced him.  
  
“This is my boyfriend, Chase. Chase is going to be a sophomore this year so he’s well versed about the going ons at Hillwood High.”  
  
Chase extended a hand for Helga to shake, which she did, and noted the ridiculously firm grip he had.  
  
“Wow, work out a bit much, huh?” Helga asked in an amused tone, shaking her hand mockingly.  
  
Rhonda looked taken aback a bit by her bluntness, but simply wrapped her spaghetti arms around her man mountain of a boyfriend, almost possessively.  
  
“Hahah, well I have to in order to keep up with my coach. He works us pretty hard.” Chase flexed jokingly, and Helga laughed with him. Rhonda wasn't laughing.  
  
“I always knew Rhonda Loyd would end up dating a jock.” Helga observed, “But even before the first day of high school. Now that’s impressive.”  
  
“Helga! He is NOT a jock!” Rhonda defensively cut in, rubbing her hands on his outstretched arm.  
  
Helga, who thought it was a joke since Chase seemed to be laughing, just shrugged. “I mean, sure he is. He’s got the whole, school jacket, rippling muscles, gelled up hair and everything that screams jock. What? It’s not a bad thing.” She went on, but Rhonda’s insulted face stopped Helga from continuing. Chase just looked confused.  
  
“Oh Helga I just knew you of all people might stereotype him, but I hoped you’d have changed since last year’s stunt.” She turned her nose up as she dragged her new boy-toy away and into the sea of people, leaving Helga wide-eyed at the statement in shock.  
  
Helga grumbled to herself, although she was silently regretting her decision to open her mouth in the first place.  
  
_The first two people you meet and you’ve already alienated them in some way. Good job. Let’s just find Phoebe before anyone else shows up to remember your failures.  
  
_

* * *

  
“Welcome to Hillwood everyone, where the time is now 6:15PM. We’ve got some cool winds outside, so keep a jacket on!” announced the captain of the plane, lights coming on as Arnold pulled off his headphones.  
  
He tucked the letter he still in his hands back into the envelope and shoved it in a pocket. He then shifted out of his seat to help a lady next to him with her luggage.  
  
“Thank you young man!” The older lady said as she received her bag from him, smiling sweetly. “Are you coming home?”  
  
“Yeah, I am!” Arnold smiled, “Been away for a couple of years, heh.”  
  
“Well,” the old lady patted him on the shoulder, “I’m sure everyone is going to be thrilled to have a sweet gentleman like you back home.” and she turned to move down the aisle.  
  
Arnold’s thoughts wandered a bit at that, hoping that he’d be able to reconnect with Gerald and some other friends before school the next day. He hoped they’d all want to see him as well...  
  
“Hey S _weet Gentleman_ , ya mind moving along so the rest of us can get off the plane?”  
  
A snide woman with her hands full of kids jibbed at him. Arnold realized there was no one in front of him and he was holding up the plane.  
  
“Oh-- sorry!” Flustered and thrown out of his thoughts, he pressed on.

* * *

  
“Arnold! Over here!”  
  
Stepping off the escalator, his ears were elated at the sound of his grandpa’s voice.  
  
There were his grandpa and grandma, waiting to pick him up from the airport. His heart lifted as he ran towards them, luggage totting behind him on wheels. His grandma was wearing a frilly sleeved white jacket, bedazzled in sequins. Apparently she wanted to be dressed as Elvis tonight. Arnold could not have expected less, and would have been slightly disappointed if she hadn't been dressed up as something ridiculous.  
  
“Grandpa, grandma!” He dropped his bag to gave them both a big hug.  
  
“Ayyyyyy Shortman! How was the flight?”  
  
“Viva Las Vegas!” Announced grandma Gertie, shaking her hips excitedly.  
  
“Pookie, what did I say about singing the King!” Grandpa Phil swiped a microphone from her hand that she was swinging around.  
  
Arnold just laughed, taking in the sight of his grandparents. “Great, grandpa.”  
  
  
  
  
  
“Well, I’ll be darned! Guess I’m gonna need a new nickname for ya, on account of 'Shortman' isn’t very accurate, now is it?” Phil was sizing his grandson up.  
  
“Hahah yeah, dad says the jungle has magical 'growth spurt' powers.”  
  
Phil chuckled at the thought, “Heheh yeeaahh, he would say something like that, the dickens.”  
  
“Arnold’s as tall and strong as you now, Phil!” Gertie announced, waving her jacket tassels enthusiastically.  
  
“Oh now let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. What do ya say, Tallman? Ready to race to the car?”  
  
“Heh, grandpa-”  
  
“1 2 3- GO!” And Phil was off like a jackrabbit towards the doors. Gertie had picked up Arnold’s luggage and cackled in her usual ludicrous laugh as she ran behind him.  
  
Arnold's eyes opened in surprised at how agile his grandparents were as they sped off, and he quickly ran after them.  
  
His dad was goofy, sure, but nothing compared to the wackiness of his good old grandparents. It was nice. Like nothing had changed.

* * *

  
  
Arnold sat in the backseat of his grandfather’s packard car, smiling fondly at all the familiar streets and locations he remembered as a child. Even as he conversated with his grandparents, he found it very hard to look away. It was all just so surreal.  
  
“Hey Arnold, look! Your old stomping grounds!” Phil announced as he pulled in front of PS118, Arnold’s primary school. Arnold’s eyes went big at the sight of it. Surreal was not enough to describe all of this anymore. So many memories flashed by in bits through his brain, and he could hear echoes of the past as the building moved before him.  
  
“Oh he was dancin’ to the jail house rock at that school!” Gertie shook her tasseled arms, snapping Arnold from his thoughts.  
  
“Pookie! Stop waving those blasted things in front of me before we end up in a jail house _ourselves_!” Phil was gripping the steering wheel tightly, trying to see around his wife’s gestures.  
  
“Been there, done that.” she batted the idea away, turning back to face Arnold in the back seat and giving him a grinning wink.  
  
Arnold chuckled, remembering how his grandma kept trying to break out of jail in order to help him save the neighborhood a few years back.  
  
“Where’s the highschool, grandpa?”  
  
“OHH, yeah your new high school! It’s a bit farther away than PS 118, but I’m planning on waking up bright and early to drive you myself, so don’t even worry about it!”  
  
“Wow, thanks grandpa! Especially since I think I might need a new bus pass.”  
  
“Yeah hahah I have a feeling you might. Ooo which reminds me-- your grandma and I got all your books and supplies for your first big day tomorrow, so you’re all set to go.”  
  
“That’s great!”  
  
“We also got you one of those crazy watches that talks to you and tells you when to breath and stand up.”  
  
Arnold blinked, “What?”  
  
“You know, all the kids these days have those watches they can talk into like a phone and play games on em’ and stuff.”  
  
“Ha ha, grandpa.” Arnold mock laughed, “You got me. I remember your tall tales though.” He winked evidently so Phil could see it in the rear view mirror.  
  
“Tall tales eh?! Pookie, show him!”  
  
Phil had a big sneaky grin as Pookie handed Arnold a packaged box.  
  
“Here ya go hound dog!”  
  
Arnold opened it up and turned over the tech marvel in his hands. The shiny watch had a little screen that lit up and displayed his name.   
  
"Hello Arnold! Pleasure to meet you." A woman's voice greeted him from the watch.   
  
“Wow.” Arnold stared down at it, stunned. “It… it knows my name!”  
  
“Eh-heh-heh told ya shortman! Technologies come a long way since you were gone! Put it on already!”  
  
Arnold strapped it to his right hand and watched as it blipped and calculated something. Then it showed a graph.  
  
“Your blood pressure is… 110 mmHg. NORMAL! Well done.” Said the cheerful voice in his watch.   
  
“Man this is incredible! What else have I missed?” Arnold asked eagerly, tapping the screen with his finger, unable to figure out what to do with it or how to make it work.  
  
“Well I’m sure your friends can fill you in tomorrow at school Arnold. You don’t want a couple of old farts like us trying to help you navigate the WILD wonders of technology. Unless it’s a Chinese Checkers app, or Blackjack!”  
  
“Ooo I’ve never been a Gambling Man, I’ve never had a winning hand!” Gertie let loose into song as they pulling up in front of Sunset Arms.  
  
“That's not even Elvis anymore, Pookie!”  
  
Arnold nearly stood up in his seat and completely abandoned his watch as his eyes shined at the sight of his old home.  
His new home once again.  
  
“Wow… It looks the same.” Arnold said nostalgically, unbuckling his seatbelt in a rush to reunite with his old room, the boarders, and his pet pig Abner.  
  
“Whoa slow down there, I think I see someone now who will be able to help you with that darn tootin' watch.”  
  
Arnold looked around out the window, and indeed saw someone standing there waiting on the stoop.   
Just when Arnold’s smile and eyes couldn't have been bigger.  
  
“Gerald!!”  
  
Arnold nearly fell on his face trying to undo himself from the seatbelt, open the door, and climb out of the car all at once. Gerald laughed in his smooth voice at Arnold, who outstretched a hand for their best friend handshake. Gerald ignored it, grabbing Arnold in for a hug and some hearty pats on the back. Arnold hugged his friend back.  
  
“My best friend back in town after two whole years, and he’s not expecting a hug? Mmm-Mmm.”  
  
“Gerald you’re here! It’s so great to see you!” Arnold pulled back, they gave their signature hand shake finally, and he took in the sight of his best friend.  
  
Gerald looked smoother and more of a 'cool cat' than ever before. His hair was a lot shorter now, and he was even sporting some sweet sideburns and a soul patch. To top it all off was his casual jacket and tie.  
  
“I am a sight for sore eyes aren't I?” Gerald joked, posing smoothly. Arnold laughed with him.  
  
“So how are your parents? I expect a full rundown on your many adventures in the jungle soon as you’re all settled in. I am the keeper of all tales after all, and I bet you’ve got all SORTS of juicy adventures to share!”  
  
“Too many to tell.” Arnold said, helping his grandparents get his luggage out of the car.  
  
Gerald took one of the suitcases for his friend and opened the door to Sunset Arms.  
  
“Are you able to hang out for a little bit while I unpack, Gerald? It’d be nice to catch up a bit before school tomorrow.”  
  
Gerald looked to Phil and Gertie, who were behind them near the car, and the three shared a smile and a wink before Gerald turned back to Arnold.  
  
“Yeah I think I can hang around for a few minutes possibly.” Was his suave answer, as he raised his arms up in a sort of stretch.  
  
Arnold smiled, having turned around and not noticed the signal wave that Gerald was giving to some faces on the roof.

* * *

Sid waved him back from atop the roof, pulling some stringy black hair away from his face so he could see.  
  
He quickly turned around and called to the crowd, “The pigskin cranium is in the building! I repeat, the pigskin cranium,” he made sure to enunciate the codename carefully the second time, “is IN the building!”  
  
“What the heck’s that mean, Sid?” Stinky asked, bewildered as everyone around him looked unimpressed.  
  
“It means…” Sid closed his eyes and took a deep, impatient breath, “That Arnold’s just arrived and we need to get into position already!!” He spat out with a raspy, cracked voice.  
  
Everyone began shuffling around hastily, and Helga quickly tried to scout out Phoebe in the frenzy before she was noticed even more by all these faces. She'd been lying low behind one of the roof’s metal beams in order to avoid being spotted by her old peers. She peeked out and made a scan for Phoebe, but it was in vain. Sighing, Helga turned to press her back against the beam and contemplated to herself.  
  
“Oh, Arnold,” She lamented, fishing out a laminated letter from her pocket and unearthing a photo of her old love from it. “Soon you will return to me, and perhaps all wounds can finally be mended….”  
  
The photo was of Arnold and his parents in the jungle. The three of them looked so happy together, and Arnold smiled towards to camera with those sultry eyes of his, as if he were looking straight into her soul. The precious letter he’d sent to her, two years ago during his first year in the jungle. He’d written to her, sent this photo for her to swoon over, and she’d often look upon it with tears welling in her eyes. (Thus, why she decided to get it laminated. Prevent the stupid waterworks from ruining it)  
  
“These past two years… so cruel… so much has changed since you’ve been gone. Will the change shock you? Maybe you have changed as well? I dare not think you could have lost any of your blind enthusiasm and generosity. No. But will you still hold that enthusiasm… for me? I likely wouldn’t deserve it…” Helga looked down with sad eyes, holding the photo in front of her as she gazed at it.  
  
“Helga, there you are!” Phoebe whispered from behind Helga, sending her startled and nearly jumping out of her skin. She jammed the envelope containing Arnold’s photo back into her jacket pocket before turning around.  
  
“CRIPES Pheebs, I’ve been looking all over for you!” She exclaimed, waving her arms around wildly. “You think coming here and having to face all these gawkers was easy?!”  
  
“Sorry Helga,” Phoebe said, “I was downstairs keeping a lookout for Arnold with Gerald. I thought for certain we would have spotted you as well.”  
  
“Yeah WELL, ya missed me. Guess my wallflower abilities can even trick my best friend eh?”  
  
Helga’s words were harsh, but Phoebe merely sighed and tried to console Helga quietly, as the rest of the roof was hushed, waiting for Arnold to arrive.  
  
“I am sorry, really. But I need to give you a… friendly head’s up at who me and gerald DID see come up here very recently...”  
  
Helga shot Phoebe a suspicious look. “...Who.”  
  
“Now Helga, just remember how we talked about taking really deep breaths, and letting the past go? It’s important to remember those breathing techniques I showed you to avoid any unpleasant encounters--”  
  
“No… not her…” Helga cut her friend off instantly, searching the crowd upon this revelation.  
  
“I’m afraid Rhonda invited her so she and Chase could get a ride home after the party. At least, that’s what she told us when she--”  
  
“You… TALKED to her?” Helga’s nerves were rising, and Phoebe was trying desperately to counter them.  
  
“Y-yes Helga, to see why she was here in the first place, after all she--”

   
  
“Doesn’t even KNOW Arnold. What BUSINESS does she have to even BE here?” Helga was now grinding her teeth in anger.  
  
“....Precisely. I’m sure they’ll leave shortly after he comes up, so stick by me and we’ll just avoid her, okay?”  
  
Helga didn’t answer, she was too busy looking at the crowd of hushed faces to pinpoint the devil herself. Her shoulders were tense with anxiety as she scanned each individual.  
That is, until she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked back to see Phoebe’s concerned face.  
  
“You can’t let him see you like this, Helga. Remember…”  
  
Helga’s face instantly softened, finally gotten through to. Phoebe removed her hand and smiled. Helga just let out an exasperated, muffled groan and tried to calm herself down.  
  
_She’s right… I can’t let him see me for the first time in years… like this…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: Smart watches don't work like this at ALL. But for hilarity, they do in my story.
> 
> Helga got some issues from the past 2 years. Ooooo what happened???  
> *insert big curious eyeballs here*


	3. Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arnold reunites with some old faces during his welcome back party! Helga is struggling with her internal dilemma as usual.

“SQUEEEEE!”

“Abner!” Arnold was completely bowled over by his very old, very fat pet pig.   
  
He laughed as the pink porker squashed him and licked his face. Although he was happy to see Abner again, the wind was nearly knocked out of his lungs when a hoof stepped on his gut the wrong way, sending Arnold into a wide-eyed gasp. 

That got Phil and Gerald rolling in laughter. 

  
“It’s… good to see you too… buddy.” Arnold sat up in between breaths, patting Abner’s head.

“Man, how old is that pig now Arnold?” Gerald asked.   
  
“Well, older than me, actually. He was a gift from the Green-eyes when my parents got married.” Arnold looked down at the squinty-eyed pig, admiring the little grey hairs on his chinny chin chin.   
  
“That old pig will probably outlive ME at this rate! Me and the borders have a bet going that he will. And what a shame too, because he’d make some tasty pork chops!” Phil chuckled.  
  
“Oink?” Abner seemed to understand the comment and looked devastated.   
  
“Grandpa!” Arnold reprimanded, hugging Abner around the neck.   
  
Phil just laughed, “Only kidding Arnold! We’d never cook Abner up for pork chops!”  
  
Arnold looked slyly unamused at his grandpa before turned to head down the hallway.   
  
Phil bent down to whisper to Gerald, “He’d make much better BACON anyways!”   
  
“I heard that.” Arnold retorted as he reached up to pull the staircase to his room down.   
  
Arnold was in pure nostalgic bliss. He entered his room for the first time in years, and was humbled to see it had been kept nearly the same. Same wallpaper, rug, and his bed nestled neatly in the corner. The bed looked a lot smaller than he remembered.   
What he did not expect, however, were the new decorations. On his walls, hung up, and strewn across various shelves, were all sorts of photos and trinkets from his adventures in the jungle. Photos of his parents and him, letters he’d sent to his grandparents. Postcards and photos his parents had sent back to Sunset Arms. Even small souvenirs of clay animals and woven baskets, key-chains, and carved wooden sticks. Small reminders of his adventures with in San Lorenzo over the past few years were here.   
Arnold was gazing at them in awe as his grandfather came in to join Gerald and him into the room. Phil set down Arnold’s suitcase and stood with them all to admire the collection.   
  
“I… never knew they sent so much back here.” Arnold finally said.  
  
Phil walked up behind his grandson and put a hand on his shoulder.   
  
“Yep Arnold, your mom and dad sure were proud of all the work you did in San Larenzo. They’d send little bits of what they could back here for us to save! You know, so you’d have something to remind you of all the good you did while you were there!”  
  
“Wow…” Arnold was trying hard not to cry at this rate. “Thank you so much grandpa. It’s wonderful.”   
  
Gerald smiled at the two before commenting, “Hey Phil, we should show Arnold the other thing too!”  
  
“Huh wha-- other thing, what the heck am I missing here?”  
  
“Oh you know, that thing on the roof?”  
  
“The roof?” Arnold chimed in, “Did grandma add another piano?”   
  
“Nooo… but she did add an organ!” Grandpa shouted out, and started laughing.  
  
Gerald slapped his hand against his face. “No not THAT. You know,” he looked at Phil and nodded his head to the roof in a sort of “get the picture?” sorta way. “The OTHER thing.” And finally, a wink.   
  
Grandpa Phil stared blankly into the void for a second at Gerald until finally the gears turned and, “Umm-- OOOooo yeah the thing! Come on ‘Tallman’ let’s check it out!”   
  
And with that, Phil started climbing Arnold’s stairs to open the panel in his skylight, letting himself onto the roof.   
  
“Tall-man?” Gerald looked at Arnold with a raised eyebrow.   
  
Arnold sighed with a smile, “Guess my nickname grew up too?” He shrugged, and Gerard chuckled as the two boys followed Phil up through the skylight.   
  
Gerald went first, and held a hand out for Arnold as he helped his friend up onto the roof. 

* * *

  
Helga was holding her breath so long she swore she was about to pass out.   
  
_Arnold._  
  
There he was, in the flesh, for the first time in two years. His hair was the same shape, although falling in his face a bit. Oh and he was no longer a shorty-pants! Helga swooned at his gangly teenage height, while simultaneously trying to think up what other teasing nickname she could use on him to replace “shrimp” with.   
Maybe string-bean, or scarecrow would be good. Yeah, that's a good one.  
  
He looked around bewildered for a second or two, before everyone sprung up to shout an enthusiastic “SURPRISE!!” as he jumped back looking just that-- surprised.   
A big, tearful smile creeping onto his face.   
That smile, even from this far away, was enough for Helga to 100% confirm: Yep. She was still in love with this sap.   
  
_Ahhh crap._    
  
Arnold looked around in amazement, overwhelmed by everyone in front of him. They were all cheering and “woohoo”ing him as he stood there, pleasantly shocked.  
  
“You’re all here! Just to welcome me back?”  
  
Sid and Stinky were the first to come barreling over to Arnold, nudging and elbowing him in a friendly matter.   
  
“Hey ya buddy where’ve ya been?” Sid joked, as if it had only been a few days.  
  
“I reckon he’s been in that San Lorenzo Sid, on account a finding his missing parents.” Stinky responded, as if Sid really was curious.   
  
Before Sid could retort to Stinky’s incomprehensible slowness, Arnold seemed to be squeezed and raised up into the air by a very strong force.   
  
“Arnooold’s baaack and he’s no longer a ruuuunt!” Mocked Harold, who was hugging Arnold tightly as he raised him up like a Gorilla holding up a twig.   
  
“Nice to-- see you guys!” Arnold gasped between breaths.   
  
Patty tapped Harold on the shoulder and Harold blinked. “Oh right.” and quickly set Arnold down again so he could catch his breath.  
  
“He’s been getting in touch with his affectionate side.” Patty told Arnold, holding out a professional hand for him to shake. Arnold remembered how strong Patty was, just from her handshake.   
  
“Haha, no kidding?” He looked to Harold, who looked embarrassed by the statement.   
  
“Well it’s only fair to give you a hug after you’ve been gone so long!” He backpedaled, trying to protect his masculinity. Stinky and Sid were yucking it up next to them, though.   
  
“Sure Harold, whateeverrr you say!” Sid mocked.   
  
“I reckon Patty sure has been rubbin’ off on him. Like a cat rubs on a leg.” The two giggled childishly.   
  
“Hey just because we go way back doesn’t mean I still won’t POUND YA.” Harold retorted, and Arnold watched with a startled look, (and nostalgic amusement) as his friends chased eachother around the roof like the crazy knuckleheads they were.   
  
“Mmm-mmm, I haven’t seen Harold act like that since the old days.” Gerald remarked near Arnold’s side.   
  
Arnold just laughed, until he really thought about the comment and looked back at Gerald.   
  
“The old days? You mean they don’t always act like this?”   
  
“No man, Harold barely ever hangs out with those two anymore. As you can see, they never really knew how to grow up.”  
  
“That’s true, heh. But, they’re still friends, right?” Arnold asked.   
  
Gerald raised his eyebrows, but before he could answer, another familiar voice emerged from the crowd to the two.   
  
“Arnold! Arnold hi!” Arnold’s eyes widened as the person running towards him did a sort of tumble and half cart-wheeled towards him before tripping completely and falling right on his face.   
  
“Eugene!” Arnold ran up to him, “Are you--”   
  
“Okay?” Eugene finished, and bounced back up onto his feet so joyously he might as well have been made of rubber. Same old Eugene, although he did seem to be a bit more put together these days.   
  
“Why no Arnold, I’m better than okay. Because you’re back, and we’re all happy to see you!” He announced, although Arnold noticed his speech was pretty muddled.  
  
Eugene gave Arnold a big hug and stood back with a smile to introduce two new faces he’d never seen before. Both boys were around Eugene’s height; short. One blond, one black-haired. The blond-haired, bowl cut boy looked as excited as Eugene himself. The black-haired boy with the square glasses, however, looked completely void of all emotion.   
  
“How’d the mouth-guard work out?” The blond-headed boy asked.   
  
Eugene popped a thick mouth guard from his lips and smiled. “It worked out wonderfully, Ned! Thanks for the fantastic suggestion!”   
  
“You predicted you were going to fall on your face, Eugene?” Arnold asked, amused.   
  
“We always predict Eugene will fall in some way.” Chimed in the black-haired boy in a monotone voice, whose glasses were so thick you could barely see his eyes. “That’s why we assembled him with the mouth guard. As well as extra padding in the shoulders, and the water resistant jacket for his phone.” He seemed to have pulled a ‘do-it-yourself’ plastic slip covered phone from Eugene’s pocket as he said this.   
  
“Wow, your new friends are pretty well prepared!” Arnold was impressed.   
  
“Yepparoo! That’s Nate for ya! It’s like he always says…” Eugene left Nate an opening to continue, but the kid just stood there leaving Eugene hanging for a couple of uncomfortable seconds before speaking.   
  
“...Assume the worst. Prepare for worse.”  
  
Arnold’s face fell at the quote, even though Eugene and Ned were both laughing at Nate’s uncanny humor and blank stare. They were laughing so hard, that Arnold took a slow step back from the trio and turned around to do some more scouting of friends. Gerald looked to have stepped out of the conversation when Eugene came around and was mingling with someone else now.   
  
Arnold moved across the crowd, looking for someone in particular. His anxious eyes squinted around the sea of people until he was suddenly approached by more familiar faces.   
  
“I can’t believe it, Arnold’s really back!”   
  
“Ya better believe it Kokoschka. And he’s all grown up. I can’t even see the top of ya anymore!”   
  
“Arnold! It is, so great to see you!”   
  
The three men patted him on the back, shook hands and were ogling over him like he was this year’s plump Thanksgiving turkey.   
  
The borders!   
  
“It’s great to see you too Mr. Kokoschka, Mr. Potts and Mr Hyunh! How’s everything been at the boarding house?”   
  
“It is very good, Arnold! I am now owner of my own restaurant!” Mr Hyunh announced proudly.   
  
“Yes and I help him with everything! I’m his right hand man, go me!” Mr. Kokoschka stepped in to take some credit.  
   
“Now that’s a laugh,” Mr. Potts chimed in, and the two began to bicker as Mr Hyunh whispered in Arnold’s ear.  
  
“He washes dishes for me. I felt bad for him after Suzie left so I gave him a job.”   
  
Arnold blinked in surprise. “Ohh right, Suzie. I’m sorry….”  
  
“It’s alright, we’ve been helping Oskar here realize his full potential and he’s learning to cope without her, aren’t’cha buddy?” Mr. Potts whacked him on the back hardily.   
  
“Ohhh… my Suzie… how could you bring her up like that?” And then the grown man began bellowing out obnoxious howls of agony as he cried loudly in memory of his ex-wife as he ran away. Needless to say, quite a few curious eyes followed as he did.   
  
“Good job, Ernie! Why you have to remind him?” Mr Hyunh scolded as he moved after Mr. Kokoschka to track him down.   
  
“Well he didn’t cry the last time I mentioned her! It’s call desensitization? Hello?” Mr Potts looked back at Arnold, “It’s great to see ya kid! I better go find Kokoschka before he consumes half the fridge in sorrow again.”   
  
Arnold smiled a crooked smile at him as the three men disappeared out of sight.   
  
Now, before he could get interrupted again…   
  
“Phoebe!” Arnold approached the short asian girl with a smile and gave her a hug.   
  
“Well hello there Arnold! Having a good time reconnecting with old acquaintances so far?”   
  
“Yeah! I can’t explain how surreal it is to see everyone again. You look great by the way!”   
  
“Thank you, that's very nice of you to say.” Phoebe replied, smiling pleasantly at Arnold's compliment.  
  
He rubbed his shoulder, trying to figure out how to ask his next question.   
  
“By the way Phoebe… You wouldn't happen to know where, or I guess if even..”  
  
Phoebe smiled smugly and answered Arnold before he could finish his question. “Yes, she’s here. She’s way over there behind the food table and trash cans.” Pheobe pointed way over to the other side of the roof, and Arnold squinted to see. Finally, a small hint of pink in the distance turned his squinty face into a pleasant smile.   
  
“Thanks Pheobe! It’s really great to see you again!” He said before making a beeline for Helga.   
  
“Likewise, Arnold.” Phoebe giggled, hoping Helga wouldn’t be too mad at her for revealing her hiding spot.   
Oh how thrilled she would be to know he was looking for her in particular! 

* * *

  
A dramatic sigh was heard behind the trash cans, and Helga traced her fingers over the letter in her pocket as she toiled with her conflicted mess of a heart.   
  
“Alright, it’s okay. Everything’s FINE. It’s not like I've made an utter fool out of myself here… yet.” Helga shook her head violently to snap herself out of it.   
  
“Look alive Helga! Arnold is finally back and even though everyone’s here and they’re all a bunch of judgmental JERKS it doesn’t mean they have ANY right to ruin this moment for you. So just hold your head up high and proud, strut right over to him and say…”  
  
"Arnold, darling!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare for some DRAAAAMA next chapter!  
> 


	4. Snapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helga may have some issues. Arnold is confused. What's new.

“Arnold, darling!”  
  
Arnold could make out some of the back of Helga’s head now as he moved through the crowd to approach her. He subconsciously gripped the letter in his pocket with his fingers as he got closer, before a handful of girls led by Rhonda broke his concentration. There also seemed to be a large boy in this group as well that Arnold didn't recognize.   
  
“R-Rhonda?” Arnold blinked in surprise as his view was completely blocked by all these unknown people, except of course for Rhonda herself. And boy did she look… different. She sure looked a lot older than the rest of his peers. Probably all the make-up, he figured.   
  
Helga peeked through the two trashcans she was huddled behind once she heard the voice of Arnold behind her and stared fixated at the crowd he was approached with.   
There was Rhonda, and her man-mountain boyfriend Chase of course. But now two other girls stood near here. A brunette with long hair and a trendy purple sweater, and wearing a revealing, snappy tank top… a tall, blond…   
  
_WITCH._  
  
Helga ground her teeth.   
  
“In the flesh, Arnold. So great to see you again.” She took his hand and pulled him in for a timid little hug. In her brief hug, he got a glimpse of the unknown guy near her, and Arnold could've sworn he saw him growl.   
  
“Hey, you too!” Arnold smiled at her, then quickly turned his eyes towards her friends, although he seemed to have been trying to see around them, but they were too tall and continued to block his view completely.   
  
“Are these new friends of yours?” He asked politely.   
  
“Well,” Rhonda began, touching the big guy’s chest as she smiled at him. “This is Chase. He’s my boyfriend.” She seemed to embellish the “boyfriend” part.   
  
Arnold waved to him, but Chase just stared him down. Alrighty then.   
  
“And this here is Camille,” She gestured to the brown-haired girl, who winked at him playfully and said, “hi.”  
  
“And this is my BFF, the one, the only, the fabulous, Victoria!”  
  
“Oh shut up Rhonda.” The blond girl with her hair done up in a flared out bun giggled and teased Rhonda back for her ridiculous introduction. She stepped up to Arnold to shake his hand softly, smiling a smile that was as sweet as the cherry lip gloss on them smelled.   
  
“Call me Vicki. Rhonda has told us SO much about you and all the amazing things you’ve done. I can’t wait to hear more from the source.”   
  
Arnold laughed nervously as all these strangers stared at him like he was some sort of Aztec god, and subtly released his hand from Vicki’s grip.   
  
“That’s very flattering Rhonda. I’ll have to catch you up on all those jungle adventures sometime.” He said, eyes somewhere else as he tried to hint at breaking from the conversation.   
  
“You know, Vicki is a really big history buff, and when I told her about your adventures with the green-eyed tribe, she said she’d love to ask you some questions about them!” Rhonda mentioned before Arnold could back out.   
  
“Rhonda! It’s not a good time to bother him with that now…” Vicki pushed at Rhonda, looking super embarrassed about what she said.   
  
Arnold noticed the insecurity, and tried to wave her off. “It’s no problem at all, really. Practically all I’ve been doing for the past couple of years has been educating people about the green eyes, so I’d be happy to teach anyone who’s willing to listen.” He smiled his sincere smile.   
  
Helga just about wanted to pick up the trash can in front of her and hurl it in Vicki’s general direction as she watched, her anger pooling.   
  
“Wow would you really?” Vicki cupped her hands in front of her face, grateful and surprised at his willingness.  
  
“You’re definitely as nice as Rhonda said you were,” She giggled with the other girls.   
  
Arnold chuckled in a flattered sort of way again, not really knowing what to say.   
  
Suddenly, Rhonda gasped as she looked very closely to Arnold’s head.   
  
“Arnold, that cord around your neck… is that?”  
  
Arnold blinked, looking down to see the necklace supporting the green eyes pendant underneath his shirt was visible. He thought for a moment whether he should pull it out or not to show them. He wasn’t really looking to show off or brag or anything… but well, they seemed so interested and at least it was a topic he was actually good at talking about.   
  
After a couple more seconds of contemplation, he fingered the cord around his neck and slipped the pendant from his shirt and off his head, holding it out for the four pairs of eyes to “Oooo” and “Ahhh” at.   
  
“The green eyes pendant. Yeah. My mom gave it to me before I left.”   
  
Arnold noticed that several other people from the crowd were turning to look too now. Practically the whole rooftop was looking his way to see the sacred artifact.   
  
“Simply superb! What craftsmanship… by the look of those cracks, I’d say it’s at least three centuries old, maybe even…” Vicki was looking at it closely, although Arnold was keeping it a secure distance away from everyone.   
  
“Could I, take a closer look? I mean if it’s not too much trouble…” Vicki asked in her small mousey voice.   
  
“Don’t...you...touch it…” Helga clenched her teeth, wanting nothing more than to scream in her face at the mere question. But no, Arnold would never give that to a complete stranger.   
  
“Well, actually it’s pretty--” Arnold hesitated, but before he could politely deny her, Rhonda snatched it right out of his hands and popped it into Vicki’s to see.   
  
“Oh don’t be silly Arnold it’s just for ‘education’ purposes. We’re all mature here. How old is this thing now Vicki?”   
  
“Ahh-!!” Arnold grasped at it, concern washing over his face as the precious emblem his mother gave him was being tossed around like some sort of cheap show-and-tell trinket.   
  
“Wow this is very, very old. How.. fascinating.” Vicki’s eyes twinkled at the sight of the green eyes pendant, and although Arnold was trying to reach back for it, Vicki seemed to be ignoring him now, far to entranced by the item to notice his reach.   
  
Arnold was getting pretty nervous at this point, and was just about to start shouting if they continued to ignore him. But before he could, someone else shouted as he felt a soft push of a hand as they made their way into the scene.   
  
“DROP IT!!” A fierce, passionate voice demanded, so loud that it cracked through the entire rooftop and stung into everyone’s ears.   
  
It happened in a flash of a couple seconds, but Arnold saw Helga shove her way forward, gripping Vicki’s arm with one hand and clenching down so tight she had to release the pendant with a little, “OW!”  
  
Upon release, Helga took possession of the item, using her other hand to sharply shove Vicki in the neck, causing her to fall down flat on her behind.   
  
“Ever heard of a thing called ASKING PERMISSION, or PERSONAL SPACE? No, because you’re a FAKE, SELF ABSORBED _CUNT_.”   
  
There was a solid stagnated second where everyone around them just stared in aw. Arnold looked at Helga with wide eyes as he stared at her, hovering over Vicki like a rabid animal about to rip her to shreds if she decided to make one wrong move. Her eyes were pinpricks of rage.  
  
“Vicki! Are you alright?!” Rhonda was the first to break the silence, bending down to help her friend, who was sniffling in agony after falling down like that. She rubbed her collarbone area and looked in intense pain as Camille bent down as well to tend to their friend.   
  
Helga’s raging bull vision subsided and she was suddenly washed over by a terrifying dread once she realized what had just happened.   
  
What she’d just done…   
  
What she’d just said…   
  
She could briefly see the faces of all her classmates, staring wide eyes at her, some with a pinch of fear, some with a glower of hate. Phoebe's eyes were sad and disappointed.   
  
And Arnold--  
  
She felt his eyes on her back. Too paralyzed to turn and face him.   
  
All of these feelings happened in a mere blink, but they clawed at her for what seemed like an eternity.   
  
The only thing to snap her out of it all was the green glow that danced at her peripheral vision.  
  
The pendant in her hands was glowing.   
  
  
  
At least it was enough for her to act before any accusations could lower her self consciousness even further. She quickly darted away, nearly forgetting what she was holding and jerked back, plopped the precious pendant quickly into Arnold’s hands, and spun to escape the premise as quickly as humanly possible.  
  
Arnold was in so much shock he couldn't even formulate words as he held the glowing relic in his hands again, completely dumbfounded.   
  
“I’m SO sorry Vicki… I didn’t know SHE was going to be here.” Rhonda consulted her crying friend, “You’d think some people would learn from past mistakes…”   
  
The three of them continued to vent about Helga and what had just happened, a soft murmur beginning to take place amongst the rest of the crowd.   
  
“I reckon that Helga still ain’t done bullying people, what a darn shame.”  
  
“Boy oh boy she really knocked ol’ Vicki flat! Did you see that push? Helga should just drop out of school and become a pro wrestler!”  
  
“Hahaha yeah she’d fit right in!”  
  
Stinky and Sid started doubling over in laughter.   
  
Whispers of “Still hasn’t learned” and “Can’t believe her” passed around through various voices in Arnold’s ears, and he shook his head to regain composure.   
  
“Hey Arnold, wait up!” Gerald called out, but Arnold was running off to catch up with Helga, quickly pulling the necklace back over his head to safely tuck it back in his shirt as he went. He didn’t even notice it had stopped glowing.  
  
“Helga? Helga!” Arnold was downstairs now, peering down both sides of the sidewalk, hoping to see where she went, but she was long gone.   
  
He stood silent for a second or two, thinking, before his shoulders slumped.   
  
What in the world had just happened? What was that? What had he missed here?

Arnold heaved a sigh, turning to head back inside before he noticed something on the ground. He walked over and picked up a pink ribbon. 

 _Helga’s bow?  
_  
She must have dropped this as she ran off.   
Arnold examined it with mixed emotions, wondering how things with Helga had been since he'd been gone. What had he missed?  
  
“Yo, Arnold!”   
  
Gerald hopped down the stoop to Sunset Arms, and Arnold quickly stuffed Helga’s bow in his pocket as he turned to face his best friend.  
  
“Sorry about that man.” Gerald was catching his breath, “That was messed up.”  
  
“Yeah…” Arnold responded, walking back inside with Gerald.  
  
“Is there some kind of… history I don't know about?”   
  
“Well if the ‘incident’ from last year counts,” Gerald began.  
  
“Incident?”   
  
“Last year, Helga got expelled from school for decking that girl, Vicki, right in the face!”  
  
“Helga punched her?”   
  
“Mmmmhm! Quite a big thing actually. Her dad’s a politician. A real suit. Anyways, he got Helga AND her family in really big trouble for it.”   
  
“Whoa, this sounds like heavy stuff.”   
  
“You got that right! Girl drama is whack these days. I try to stay out of it. I'm too chill for that stuff.” Gerald straightened his tie to somehow prove his suaveness.  
  
Arnold cracked a small smile, before inquiring further.  
  
“Gerald, what did that girl.. Vicki do to make Helga so mad? I don't think I've ever seen her that furious before..”   
  
“Weeelll..” Gerald contemplated, before they both heard voices approaching and he stopped.  
  
Good thing too, because Rhonda and her friends were the ones accompanying these voices.   
  
“I, I can’t believe she’s still holding a grudge.” came the sniffling voice of Vicki.   
  
“Helga can’t let things go. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.”  
  
“Yeah, I cannot believe I used to hang out with her when we were younger.” Rhonda’s voice chimed in, “Did you know she used to pick on Lila of all people?”  
  
“Lila? But she’s so sweet and kind!” Camille said.  
  
“I know, right? Her first day of school, Helga had us all dump rotten food on her head and sent her home crying.”   
  
“Figures…” Vicki muttered angrily, her sympathetic tone waring off slightly.   
  
Rhonda took another breath to continue her bad-mouthing, but stopped when she noticed Arnold and Gerald standing there, who looked at them all with upturned eyebrows, obviously catching the last half of their conversation.   
  
“Oh Arnold! Thank you so much again for having us. I’m so sorry about that… drama up there.” She did her best apologize, hoping desperately that he didn’t hear their conversation.  
  
Arnold just sighed, closed his eyes, and decided not to fuel the drama further.   
  
“It’s alright Rhonda. It was nice to meet all of you. I’ll see you in school tomorrow.”   
  
“Sorry again for the bother,” apologized Vicki.   
  
“Bye!” Camille said.   
  
Chase just looked over his shoulder at Arnold as he walked past, not saying a word.   
  
“Mmm mmm mmm.” Gerald shook his head, watching the four of them get into Chase’s car as he chauffeured the ladies home. “That’s a saaaad sad sight my friend.”  
  
“That Rhonda’s running with a dramatic crowd these days?”  
  
“No. That guy is WHIPPED! You see the way he just does whatever Rhonda wants? Man.”  
  
Arnold smirked and shook his head.   
  
“No really though Arnold, those girls aren't that bad. They’re just popular, and I think it gets to their heads sometimes.” he shrugged.   
  
“I guess.” Arnold replied, scratching his head a bit, wondering why Helga reacted so badly if they weren’t ‘that bad’. Helga often overreacted to things, but not on that level. Unless she’d really gotten that much worse since he’d gone.  
  
_I guess I'll just have to find out the truth tomorrow at school._  


* * *

  
“Alright everyone! Thank you for stopping by to welcome back Arnold, but remember it’s a school night so as such… GET OFF MY ROOF!”  
   
Phil was announcing through a megaphone, laughing afterwards when everyone held their ears at his last quote.   
  
Everyone started saying their goodbyes to Arnold, as Gertie continued to shake a tail feather on top of the piano.   
  
“Don’t worry now, you’ll all get to see him in school, move along now.” Phil commented to the crowd as they milled out the door.   
  
“You all need to get your rest for the-- HEY KOKOSCHKA where you going with that half a ham!?”  
  
“Oh I didn't want it to go to waste so I am going to go make a sandwich with it. Eheheheh.”   
  
“You know darn well we’re using that for the stew for tomorrow’s dinner!” Phil started chasing Oscar down the stairs from the room.  
  
“Hey, at least he can make his own sandwich now.” Ernie remarked at the scene.   
  
“Yes. Very good progress!” said Mr. Hynn.   
  
“Well, I dunno about you but I’m dog tired.” Gerald said, walking to to Arnold and giving him their handshake.   
  
“Find me tomorrow before school and I’ll introduce you to my swag group of friends, alright?”   
  
“Oh, right! I forgot about those guys you wrote about in your letters. I can’t wait to meet them Gerald.”   
  
“Take it easy man.” and Gerald waved him off as he left, along with everyone else.   
  
Arnold climbed down to his room and gave a big sigh.   
  
What a night. His head was still spinning just having to take in everyone and everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.   
  
“Oh shoot!” Arnold exclaimed to himself, diving halfway off his bed to fetch a notebook out of his luggage bag. He paged it open as a familiar looking animal wandered into his room.   
  
“Hey Abner! Gonna chill in here for the night?” He asked the plump old pig, scratching his ear.  
  
Abner snorted contently and plopped right down on Arnold’s carpet.   
  
“Aww did ya miss me buddy? Hahah.” Arnold scratched him on the belly as he rolled over.   
  
Abner sure did show his age now, and Arnold was a little sad to see how old he’d really gotten. But he was overall just happy that Abner was even still alive at this age to begin with.   
  
Suddenly, a strange new noise entered Arnold’s ears and he toppled onto his floor from the bed he was laying on, an alarming jingle filling the room. He then realized, half upside-down and half lopped over Abner, that it was his watch.  
  
He turned his wrist over to see the words displayed, “Time for bed!”   
  
“Oh… well alright then.” He tapped his finger on the watch face until it shut up.   
  
Sitting up on the floor and taking hold of his notebook yet again, Arnold began to mindlessly chat with Abner.   
  
“It’s funny my grandparents got me a fancy talking watch that acts as a second mom, instead of a modern cellphone.”   
  
His chuckle dwindled into a sigh as he looked down at the pages of his notebook.   
  
“I forgot to have everyone write their numbers down on this while they were here. I guess I’ll have to scout them all out tomorrow and write them down the old fashioned way so I can call them on the landline for now.”    
  
Arnold then dropped a small blanket over his companion, crawled into his childhood bed, and stared up at the window above him, his feet now able to touch the end of the bed frame.  
   
The stars weren’t as clear here, and he could hear nothing but the sounds of traffic outside his room. People yelling at eachother, cars honking, tires screeching…  
  
It was good to be back. And he was asleep almost instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arnold you've missed a lot of stuff boy.
> 
> EDIT 5/5/18: Edited this chapter so it flows better. Fixed mistakes, and revamped the image!


	5. Bonafied Ninnyhammer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helga laments her disaster of a welcome back party as she drags her feet back home, running into her parents before heading to bed.  
> Now that the day is finally over, the 1st day of school begins! But will it go off without a hitch?  
> (The answer is no, of course not. Who do you think I am?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the following ones after need some touch-ups on spelling and formatting. I apologize that it's not as neat as previous chapters!

Helga had taken the long way back home, hoping by the time she opened the door, her parents would be asleep and wouldn’t bother her. Plus, she needed the time to make up a game plan for tomorrow.  
  
“Okay! So I may have lost my temper a bit in front of Arnold. He just might think I’m the same old bully I always was, which, isn't true, but I mean it didn't stop him from being nice to me before! So in theory it shouldn't matter now either!” Helga rambled to herself until she ran out of breath, then sighed heavily to begin again.  
  
“On the other hand who am I kidding?! I’m now starting off the first day of highschool with everyone I know either hating me or just being plain scared! And poor Arnold… How could I have caused such drama on your first day back?” She reached out with his photo in her grasp, looking longingly at it.  
  
“How will I ever get to talk to you now? Everyone will be swarming you and wanting you to join their circle of friends, and what of little old Helga Pataki? Cursed as I am to roam the school without a precious circle of my own…” She sighed dramatically, stood up and blinked for a second.|  
  
“Ehh I’ll just tag along with Phoebe and her friends. Easy peasy.”  
  
With a shrug, she forced a deep breath to calm herself, and made her way down the road. 

* * *

  
Helga then made her way into her house, opening the door gingerly and closed it with a soft click. She peeked at the clock in the hallway.  
11PM already. Oops, she guessed that walk really was a long route.  
  
Just as she was about to creep upstairs, she nearly jumped out of her skin when Big Bob’s booming voice bellowed out behind her.  
  
“Do you have any idea what time it is, little lady?!”  
  
Helga cringed, squinted, and then proceeded to whip around with a fake smile.  
  
“Gee dad, it must be late if your voice is reaching that low of an octave.”  
  
“Hey, don’t start that tone with me Olga! Your mother and I have been worried sick with you being out this late!”  
  
“Helga.”  
  
“Wha?”  
  
“You said Olga again.”  
  
“Huh? No I didn’t.”  
  
“Yeah. Pretty sure ya did.” Helga was frowning and pointing to a glass jar on the shelf beside Bob.  
  
He looked at it and grumbled as he dug around in his pocket for some loose change, throwing a few quarters into the jar labeled “Big Bad Bob Jar”.  
  
“Stop distracting me from my disappointed parent rant now!” Bob comically yelled, but Helga was already smirking after winning this round.  
  
  
  
After Miriam started going to her support group and doing community service at the animal shelter, she would often come back with ridiculous ideas for “family bonding” and things to make them all closer together. Helga and her dad would usually agree on most of them being ludicrous, garbage ideas that they wouldn’t touch with a ten foot stick, but when the topic of Bob never calling Helga by her actual name came up, she was more than happy to support Miriam’s idea.  
  
Whenever Bob would get Helga’s name, age or any other basic information wrong about her, he had to pay up to the Big Bad Bob Jar. Anything in that jar was Helga’s to spend on whatever she wanted.  
  
_Not a bad idea at all, Mariam._  
  
“So what are you going to say? That I shouldn’t have been out so late because it’s the first day of school tomorrow? Or that I should be more prepared for high school?” Helga asked sarcastically.  
  
Bob just raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Well I was, but you seem to be competing with my parenting today so…” He rubbed his temple, exhausted, “Just go to bed already before I actually get a creative idea on how to punish you.”  
  
“That’s rich.” Helga chuckled, turning to head upstairs.  
  
“I HEARD that young lady! That sass of yours is getting out of control you know!”  
  
“Yeah, yeah…” Helga muttered, opening the door to her room.  
  
“Helga?”  
  
Helga stopped midway between the hallway and her room to see her mother approaching her. She then sighed.  
  
“Look Miriam, I just got the 411 disappointed dad lecture downstairs. I could do without round two, okay?”  
  
“Sweety I just wanted to know if anything was wrong.”  
  
“Huh?” Helga blinked wildly at her mother, not used to hearing this question.  
  
“Well you just, look a little stressed out, and with the first big day of high school tomorrow and all… I know it can be a really scary thing.”  
  
“Oh,” Helga sighed, thankful that her mom's worries were so general.  
  
“It’s fine. Just like any other day of school I’m sure.” She gave a half smile to her mom, who smiled back in a relieved way. Then she bent down to give her daughter a hug.  
  
“Good, now you get some sleep, and please come to me if you ever have anything that’s bothering you, okay?”  
  
“Sure, mom… thanks.” Helga answered, a little shocked.  
  
Since when were her parents so concerned with her lately? Helga thought as she leaned against the back of her bedroom door to shut it softly.  
  
“Sheesh, great time to get all mushy and smothering.” She retorted to herself, sticking her tongue out and strutting over to her bed to collapse onto it.  
  
“Alright. Game plan! Tomorrow I’ll just use my old Arnold stalking skills to make sure I cross paths with him and hopefully I can snag him alone so I can talk to him and clear up this whole mess! Yeah, easy-peasy. No sweat I got this. I’m just gonna be a reasonable, chill girl. No fighting, I’ll keep my mouth shut, and it’ll be alllllll good.” She locked her fingers behind her head in a careless smile and sighed.  
  
She closed her eyes, imagining Arnold’s shocked face on the roof as he looked at her earlier that night. She then frowned, and heaved a heavier sigh as she pressed a pillow against her face.  
  
“Crimedy... I’m a bonafide ninnyhammer all over again! AUGHHH!”

 

* * *

  
****“Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold. Wake up. Hey Arnold!”  
  
Arnold’s eyes flickered open and his barely functioning brain tried to process where this voice was coming from so he could shut it off. Then he felt his wrist vibrate and shocked him enough to sit up in his bed.  
  
“Hey Arnold! Wake up! Hey--” the incessant watch finally shut up after he poked it enough. He really needed to figure out how this thing worked, but he was grateful for the alarm anyway.  
  
Yawning, wiping tears from his eyes, and stretching, Arnold pulled his legs over his bed and began to stand up, only to feel hairy flesh under his feet and a loud, “SCREEEEEE!” burst through the room as Arnold shouted in shock. He had completely forgotten about his pet pig sleeping nearby.  
  
“Sorry Abner.”  
  
Well if Arnold wasn’t awake before, he was now. He didn’t even feel like he knew where he was. It was like he was 10 years old again, getting ready to hop on the bus to PS118.  
  
When would this surreal feeling finally go away?  
  
“Grandpa! I’m up!” Arnold called through the hallway, heading to the bathroom. He was happy to see there wasn’t a line outside of the door, but upon trying to open it, he found the door locked.  
  
“Anyone in there?” Arnold knocked.  
  
The door suddenly flew open and an unfamiliar, uniformed woman appeared in the doorway. Her tight blonde hair was tied up in a bun and her stern expression softened upon seeing the boy in front of her.  
  
“Ahh, up early and starting the day! Good lad.” Her voice was thick with a european accent of some kind.  
  
“Uhh..” Arnold stared for a second at the stranger.  
  
“Did the boarding house hire security?” He asked.  
  
Her laugh was loud and hearty, and she shook his hand with a firm grip. Arnold could have sworn he heard his fingers crack.  
   
“Name’s Cora Crescentia. Former Navy seal. Now I deal with no good agitators at Hillwood penitentiary. I started here last year in June. I been eyeballin’ that slick room of yours, but your grandpa wouldn’t let me have it, no sir!”  
  
Arnold laughed nervously, waving his sore hand around from the killer handshake.  
  
He didn’t know they had a new tenant.  
  
“It’s nice to meet you Ms. Crescentia. I must have missed you last night.”  
  
“Work the graveyard shift, kid. Sorry I had to miss your little party. Lookin’ forward to those leftovers, though!” She smirked.  
  
“Not if I get them first! Eheheh!” Oscar was running down the stairs and Cora whipped her head around and began marching after him.  
  
“Kokoshka! Do NOT make me get out my baton! This is unqualified behavior for a man your age!” She scolded, disappearing downstairs.  
  
“The fun never ends.” Arnold commented to himself, stepping inside the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for school.

* * *

  
Helga was walking down the street, half a bagel in her hand as she headed towards her new school. She could hear incoherent chanting in the distance, when she noticed a familiar, spiky haired figure ahead of her, and she ran straight for him.  
Swallowing the rest of her bagel, she ran up, touched his shoulder and her heart raced as he turned to look at her.  
  
“Hi.”  
  
“Hey!”  
  
Arnold stared at her and smiled for a moment, and Helga’s heart felt like it was going to explode.  
  
“It’s uh… nice to see you again Arnold. I’m sorry about last night.” She confessed, sounding as sincere as possible.  
  
He smiled that irresistible smile before he gave her a big, heartfelt hug.  
  
Helga gasped, shocked and felt as if she were in a dream. He still cared! She was in heaven. She slowly strung her arms around him and hugged him back.  
  
The chanting in the distance grew louder, but she ignored it. This embrace was all that mattered. It made her even feel bold.  
  
“My feelings for you… are still the same.” She said, still in his hug. Her voice was tender and shy.  
  
“I know….” he responded, and she smiled ear to ear, but dangit that chanting was loud now. What the heck!  
  
“...but the feeling isn’t mutual.”  
  
Helga’s eyes opened wide, and she pulled away from the hug to see Arnold’s face enveloped in shadow.  
  
What..?  
  
She could now hear parts of the words from that irritating chanting. She could hear the voices use her name.  
  
“I’ve grown up, and I’ve realized you just got worse since I’ve known you. I’m sorry Helga, but I can’t be with someone as toxic as you. I can’t save you from yourself.”  
  
Arnold’s words stung so much she could feel her heart being ripped right in half. It was the worst pain she'd ever felt. Worse than 1000 bees stinging her in the eyes.  
  
Complete torture. She wouldn’t wish this pain on her worst enemy.  
  
...Well, maybe Vicki.  
  
“Helgaaaa’s a buuuully, a no good rotten bitch!”  
“Arnold is better off with someone kinder!”  
“You’d only taint him with your awful attitude!”  
  
The crowd of people now surrounding them was thick and dripping with judgment. Their words just added salt to her already torn heart.  
  
The pain was so intense that all she wanted to do was fall down and curl into a ball, but she kept her vision fixed on Arnold’s face, trying desperately to find any sign of hope, but she couldn’t even reach him anymore, let alone see him. Maybe she’d never see him again?  
  
The pain of these thoughts swallowed her up into something… until it was too great and her mind couldn’t handle it anymore.  
  
She finally woke up.  
  
Panting, tears in the corners of her eyes. She rubbed them furiously, half traumatized, half relieved to find out it was just a dream.   
  
_A nightmare._   
  
It had been so long since she remembered what she dreamt about, and this felt so real. So tangible.  
  
She looked at the time on her phone and was irritated to find it a whole 45 minutes before she needed to wake up.  
  
Great, not enough time to go back to sleep, not like she would be able to after that anyways.   
  
She ripped the covers off her bed and like a zombie, approached her nightstand and mirror.  
  
“Good morning, _sexy_.” She sarcastically remarked to her reflection in the mirror with a finger gun. Her eyes were baggy and her hair was sticking up all over the place. She deemed herself to be as attractive right now as a naked mole rat.  
  
Sighing, she grabbed her clothes she’d laid out the night before and sluggishly got dressed, throwing on a thick windbreaker jacket since she knew the bike ride would be long.  
  
With her dad leaving for work every morning and her mom unable to drive, Helga usually took the bus. But this new school was further away then PS 118 and the bus route would take over an hour of travel. So unless she wanted to wake up at 5am, (gross) she was forced to bike there.  
  
“Sheesh, I can’t wait to get my driver’s license.” she muttered at the thought, pulling at her drawer to fetch her little pink bow.  
  
However, that familiar fabric did not greet her this time. The drawer was empty. Helga’s eyes widened in thought-- she never took it off last night.  
  
Scrambling around her room for one hectic moment made her realize, “Oh shoot me in the foot, I must have dropped it as I was running from Arnold’s place!”  
  
She held her head with her hands, freaking out at the realization that it may possibly be lost forever now!  
  
But why did she care so much? It was just a plain pink ribbon…  
  
The same pink ribbon tied into a bow that Arnold first noticed.   
That first time she’d ever been noticed…  
  
“Dammit I’ve got to go find it!!” she announced, dumping everything she needed into her backpack and bustling out the door.  
  


* * *

  
“Eat up, sherif!”  
  
Gertie announced, slapping a spatula of sunnyside eggs on Arnold’s plate.  
  
“What happened to Tex?” Arnold chuckled, digging into to the breakfast platter his grandma had made for him. There was easily way too much food here for one boy to consume, but he knew how over-the-top she liked to be.  
  
“Why you’ve been promoted, young deputy!” And she pressed a golden star sticker, seemingly out of nowhere onto his shirt.  
  
“Now eat up so you can wrangle up all them no good varmints at the jailhouse!”  
  
Arnold felt like he’d barely only taken a few bites before his watch started alerting him that, “Calorie count for breakfast achieved! Don’t over do it now!”  
  
Arnold wasn't sure how he was liking this watch play life monitor for every movement he made.  
  
“Arnold?” Gertie asked.  
  
“Yeah grandma?” Arnold said, tinkering with this watch and trying to figure out how it knew how much he’d eaten.  
  
“There’s a tiny woman in your watch and she seems pretty angry. You might want to get that checked out, sheriff!”  
  
“...Thanks grandma.” Arnold looked at his watch for the time, thankful it could at least get the basics right.  
  
 “Hey, is grandpa around? It’s getting a little late and we should probably leave soon.”  
  
“Right here, Shortm-- I meeeaan, Tallman, heheh.” Phil popped into the kitchen.  
  
“Grandpa… are you really going to keep calling me that?”  
  
“Darn tootin’! We might as well stop by the courthouse and change your last name while we’re at it on the way to school!”  
  
“I really don’t think we--”  
  
“I’m kidding Arnold!” his grandpa grabbed him around the shoulder and gestured for him to follow him out to the garage.  
  
“That son of mine sure isn’t as funny as your old grandpa, obviously! Hanging out all that time with Miles and your mom have left you out of that brand of humor I see.”  
  
Arnold picked up his backpack and walked into the garage with his grandpa, opening the door of the Packard and sitting himself down.  
  
“Actually, dad does that all the time to me.” Arnold admitted.  
  
Phil raised an eyebrow, “So taller, wiser, and well traveled, yet gullible as always eh?”  
  
“Grandpa…” Arnold scolded, but couldn’t help but admit to himself how true that was.  
  
His mom often pointed out how he could be incredibly observant with some things, and then oblivious beyond comprehension at others.  
She called it, “selective intuition”.  
  
Phil just laughed at this fact, finally turning the key to his vehicle. The old car let out a screech and a strange gurgle before the engine went dead.  
  
Phil and Arnold just sat in surprise for a second.  
  
“That didn’t sound good..” Arnold pointed out.  
  
“POOKIIIEEEE! When I told you to park the packard last night, did you leave the headlights on again?!”  
  
“Well I had to see my way out of the dark cavern now didn’t I!” She called from the kitchen.  
  
Phil slapped his face and Arnold curved an eyebrow. “Can’t we just jump it?”  
  
“We could…. If Cora didn't steal the jumper cables to aid in her new super computer robot thingamabob.”  
  
Arnold blinked. “....What?”  
  
“Sooooo….” Phil began, strumming his fingers awkwardly on the steering wheel. “Ya think the bus drivers will notice if a bus pass expired two years ago?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man these two just can't catch a break can they?  
> I wonder if the whole day is gonna go down like this? HMMM. 
> 
> Also how'd ya like the "Big Bad Bob jar"? Lol.  
> He's trying at least.


	6. Don’t spend it all at one place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to school should not be this hard.

“MIRIAM!!” Helga belted across the house, running into the entranceway to find her mother.  
  
She heard a groggy moan from the living room and jogged inside to see her mother half awake on a half deflated air mattress of all things. Rather not question the strange sight, she skipped straight to the point and prayed that her hungover mother was conscious enough to comprehend her.  
  
“Miriam! My bike has a flat tire and I can’t find the bike pump!” She expressed, throwing her arms at her sides to demonstrate the rush she was in.  
  
“Ohhhh, yeah dear I used it last night for this air mattress.” She blinked at her daughter, trying to smile as if nothing were wrong.  
  
“....Since when have you needed an air mattress to sleep in here?” Helga asked.  
  
“Well since I quit drinking, I discovered the couch is really hard on my back, you know.”  
  
“You do realize that quitting implies forever, right?” Helga put her hands on her hips, clearly disappointed with her mother.  
  
“Oh it was only a little get together with some friends! And they had those cute little drinks with--”  
  
“With the little umbrellas in them OKAY I get it, now where’d you put the bike pump?” Helga demanded, looking all around the living room as she did.  
  
“Oh hmmm.. Did you check the hallway?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“The garage?”  
  
“DOI.”  
  
“The downstairs bathroom?”  
  
“The-  _what?_ ” Helga frowned wildly, confused at that option.  
  
She marched over to the bathroom anyway, soon reappearing at the entryway of the living room with the bike pump in hand, looking at her mother as if to say, “seriously?”  
  
“Ohhhhh that’s right, you see I wasn’t feeling so well after using so much energy putting air into this mattress, and wouldn’t you know it, I must have forgotten to drop the bike pump as I was running into the bathroom!” Miriam laughed halfheartedly.  
  
Helga just looked at her mother with severely disappointed eyes and huffed as she turned to rush back out towards the garage.  
  


* * *

  
Once Helga got her bike back in tip-top shape, she kicked back the kickstand and swung her very heavy backpack onto her shoulders.  
  
Before she could zoom out of the garage, however, she was interrupted once more.  
  
“Hold on there little lady!”  
  
Helga audibly growled under her breath as she turned to see Big Bob standing in the doorway to the garage, wearing the sleaziest business suit you could imagine. Used car sales sure were true in that stereotype.  
  
“WHAT, Bob? I’m gonna be late!”  
  
“Now I know it’s your first day, so here’s some extra cash to get you by for lunch and… uh, whatever else you need money for at school I guess.” He offered her a $20 bill.  
  
Helga took the money suspiciously, but she could see through his gift with ease.  
  
“You know, a ride to school would be better then paying me off.” She muttered.  
  
“Hey hey HEY! I just gave you 20 bucks! I expect a thank you missy!”  
  
Helga faked a smile and said very cheerfully, “Sorry. Thaaanks dad!”  
  
Bob stood frowning for a few seconds before smiling and accepting her obvious fakeness. It really didn’t take much after all.  
  
“Good. Now off you go before you’re late! I expect perfect grades this semester young lady!”  
  
“Yeah yeah…” Helga retorted, finally peddling out so she could find her lost ribbon.  
  
Although she couldn’t help but notice how Big Bob actually cared about her grades. He was probably just trying to make up for Miriam’s screw up last night, she figured.  


* * *

  
“CRIMEDY! Where IS it?!” Helga exclaimed to herself, stopping on her bike and looking around the streets of her path from last night.  
  
Why didn’t she notice it had fallen off her head?  
  
….Probably because she was insane.  
  
And why did she decide to take the longest path back home last night?? ….Don’t answer that, she told herself, and sighed.  
  
“It’s okay, it’s okay. There’s still a bit of road left to check.” She gulped, realizing the last place she was to check.  
  
“Arnold’s place…” she admitted, standing with her bike outside Sunset Arms and squinting as far as her vision would allow her to look for anything pink on the ground without having to get too close.  
  
It was no use.  
  
Arnold was probably long gone on his way to school by this time, and hopefully none of the borders or his grandparents would recognize her.  
  
“Not recognize you after the stunt you pulled last night? Please…”  
  
She parked her bike to the side of the building and then carefully lifted the lid of one ot the trashcans out in front. Maybe it had gotten thrown out if someone found it?  
  
Before she could even peer inside the canister however, she heard a loud, raspy voice should out, “Why HELLO Eleanor! Come to take out the trash for this coming election I see?”  
  
Helga slammed the lid down to stare wide eyed at none other than Arnold’s grandmother, who was cackling and waving directly at her. Wha-- did she think she was some sort of old friend or..?  
  
“Grandma, who are you talking to?” came Arnold’s voice.  
  
“Ah-Arnold?!” Helga voiced a hushed realization and practically dove back behind the building before Arnold came out with his grandma, followed by Phil.  
  
“Oh just Eleanor Roosevelt again, doing her civic duty to make sure you got to school alright.” she admitted and ruffled Arnold’s hair before chuckling and walking back inside.  
  
Helga pressed herself up against the brick wall listening, sincerely freaked out that Arnold was still here, and she was so close to him right now.  
  
“Are you sure you don’t want me to start a wrestling match with Cora to fish back my jumper cables?” Phil asked, pushing his sleeves up as if to prepare for a fight.  
  
“It’s okay grandpa. I can get there by just paying the bus driver in cash for today. I’ll get a bus pass tomorrow!” he waved and began to take off.  
  
“Alright _Tallman_ , go give em’ heck! Listen to your teachers, but don’t trust the lunch lady! Oh and of course, never, ever, EVER eat raspberries!” Phil called out to Arnold before heading back inside.  
  
Helga peeked around the corner, watching Arnold run quickly to the bus stop. Almost upon instinct, she discretely peddled after him, keeping her distance.  


* * *

  
Arnold was catching his breath at the bus stop, in line with several other patrons as they stepped onto the metro.   
  
Helga peeked over at him from behind the bus, sighing deeply. She noticed him slightly shivering as he stood in place. Was he cold? It was a bit nippy outside, but nothing cold enough to need a jacket, unless you were biking like she was.  
  
Arnold sure felt cold all of a sudden, now that he was standing still. He’d forgotten how much different the temperature was up here. He’d gotten so used to the humid jungle air.  
  
Finally, he walked inside the bus and opened his wallet, handing a couple bills to the driver and apologizing that he didn't have a bus pass yet.  
  
“What’s this?” The driver asked, waving his money back at him, “Do I look like I speak Spanish to you? This is America, boy!”  
  
Arnold felt really stupid when he just realized he’d tried to pay in the central American currency he’d been using for the past two years.  
  
“Oh… shoot. I totally forgot!” Arnold looked through the rest of his wallet, as if that would somehow make magical dollar bills appear.  
  
“It’s my first day of high school and I just came back from San Lorenzo last night--”  
  
“San La-what’so?” the driver repeated.  
  
“Ahh-- out of country.”  
  
“Obviously. Look kid, can you pay or not?”  
  
Helga inched her way into the line of people and asked one girl, “Yo what’s the hold up, sister?”  
  
The darkly dressed teenager with heavy mascara turned to give Helga a weird look at the remark, but simply replied, “Some kid’s trying to pay with Spanish money and can’t get on.”  
  
The goth looking girl pointed towards the door of the bus.  
  
“What?” Helga reached forward to hear Arnold begging the driver to let him pay later, but failing miserably.  
  
He was now being pushed aside by the other riders as they scanned their bus pass to get on.  
  
Thinking quickly, Helga made a rash decision and all but grabbed the same girl she’d talked to before she could step onto the bus.  
  
“Wha- hey!”  
  
But before the girl could express her distress, a $20 bill was flashed in front of her face.  
  
“Give this to that kid so he can get on the damn bus, okay? And don’t you dare keep it or I WILL find you and I’ll rip out your kidneys to sell on eBay!”  
  
The goth girl looked at Helga as if she were smoking something, but took the $20 and turned to the bus door before commenting, “And I thought my first day would be boring.” She made a strange chuckle.  
  
“Please sir! I don’t have another way to school!”  
  
“Listen buddy, if you hold my bus up any longer, I’ll call the cops!”  
  
“Here.” suddenly a $20 bill was shoved into Arnold’s chest by some random stranger.  
  
“Huh?” Arnold looked back at the girl who’d just given him way more than he needed and quickly sputtered out, “Oh no I couldn't possibly accept-”  
  
"Thank you!" the driver had already taken it from Arnold’s hands, thanking him sarcastically. He began complaining about having to break a 20 dollar bill so early in the day as he slapped the change back into Arnold’s hands.    
  
As he closed the bus door and starting off on his route, Arnold made a beeline for the girl he saw earlier, sitting down next to her. He noticed she already had some loud music playing from her ear buds.  
  
“Um, excuse me?” he tapped her on the shoulder.  
  
She merely glanced towards him as he went to hand her his change.  
  
“Thank you for doing that, I can’t thank you enough.”  
  
She shook her hand and pushed the money away. “Keep it. It’s not mine anyways.”  
  
Arnold blinked. “Huh?”  
  
The goth girl shrugged. “Some crazy girl made me give it to you.” She said matter of factly.  
  
“Crazy girl?” Arnold’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

  
“Yeah, she said she’d sell my kidneys on eBay if I didn’t. So, you know, I figured why take the risk?” She raised her eyebrows at Arnold and snickered at his sheer confusion.  
  
Arnold looked down at his change for a moment, tucking it into his wallet.  
  
“Hey, what did the girl look like?” He asked, looking back up at the goth girl, but her eyes were closed as she was back to jamming out. He could hear the loud bass of her techno music behind the headphones.  
  
“Oh…” Arnold awkwardly sat back in his seat, taking a deep breath and looking out the window.   
  
He could have sworn he saw someone familiar riding a bike as the bus turned out of view from them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note to self: Stop drawing scenes inside a freaking BUS. THEY'RE NOT FUN.  
> Fun Fact: Forcing a roommate to hold some money and pose while you take pictures "for research" is a great reference source!
> 
> Sorry my chapters are so short. I'm more of a visual artist and I don't like writing shit that isn't important. But I'll have more up soon!


	7. Radish Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helga's resolve to not get into trouble on her first of high school isn't going so smoothly, but at least she makes a new friend?

Helga arrived at school before Arnold’s bus did with 10 minutes to spare before her first class.  
  
Whew… she knew practicing that route earlier in the week would pay off.  
  
She rolled her bike up to the bike rack and groaned when she saw literally no spaces left to chain her bike at. What kind of high school only had two bike racks??  
  
She looked around, having to get creative with the location now. She walked along the perimeter of the school before encountering a large bush with thick branches.  
  
“Hmm. This’ll do.” And Helga quickly strung her lock through her wheel and a thick branch on the bush. She tucked her bike halfway into the bush for good measure, and quickly dashed off to find her homeroom.  


* * *

  
  
Arnold was starting to fidget in his seat. Not only had he never been to this school before, having only a vague idea where it was, but he didn't even have a phone or a way to navigate the city. The city he’d been missing from for two years and didn't know like the back of his hand anymore.  
  
“Um, excuse me, but do you know which stop goes by Hillwood high school?” Arnold looked to an older woman who was sitting near him, but she just gave him a shrug.  
  
Arnold looked around, but no one seemed to know or answer him. He finally let out a sigh, looking out the window to hopefully notice an obvious high school.  
  
When the bus stopped next, he noticed the goth girl from before stand up and start to leave.  
  
“Yo, Shortchange!”  
  
Arnold looked up and noticed she was directing her attention on him, and looked confused at the nickname.  
  
“You going to school or what?” She asked, and turned around to leave the bus before he could react.  
  
Arnold quickly tossed his backpack over his shoulder and rushed out the bus, looking for the girl.  
  
“Hey!” He ran to catch up to her, “Why’d you call me Shortchange?” He asked.  
  
She merely pulled one side of her headphones off and raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
“You were short... on change.”  
  
“Yeah but shortchange is a term for a cheat or… someone who’s really dishonest. I’m not dishonest. My name’s Arnold.” He extended a hand.  
  
She took it, albeit cautiously, her nails painted as black as her eyeliner.  
  
“Rita.”  
  
“Nice to meet you Rita. So is the high school up ahead?”  
  
“No. I got off a stop early because I needed more steps for my Fit-bit.”  
  
“..What?” Arnold’s eyes widened, not understanding the reference or the sarcasm. He’d be late for sure at this rate.  
  
She merely looked at him with a side glance and slightly smiled.  
  
“Sorry. My brand of humor is terrible with good fellas like you. I was just kidding.”  
  
“Oh,” Arnold blinked. “Whew.”  
  
“I’d never wear a Fitbit. Those fancy watches just invade your privacy too much.”  
  
“...Huh!?” Arnold’s relief disappeared yet again, and he felt himself roll down the sleeve of his shirt to cover up his watch tat her comment as well.  
  
“Don’t look now, but we’re about to enter the bowels of hell.” She pointed ahead, and Arnold was finally relieved for sure this time.  
  
The school was big, much larger than PS118. At least 3 stories! The building was so modern and shiny. He doubted he’d ever get used to all this new modern city stuff.  
  
When he looked back around him, he caught a glimpse of Rita wandering in through the front doors, not waiting up for him.  
  
“Okay, it won’t be that different than elementary school. Just walk through the doors and…”  
  
Arnold pushed open the doors to the school, and he was greeted with a row of metal detectors and one security guard. The corners of the hallways had monitors playing a loop of a tall black man speaking to the students and welcoming them. A weather forecast was even in the corner. The floors were shiny and the walls were covered in sets of lockets that had high tech looking number pads on them. Arnold took a deep breath.  
  
“I take that back… This is different.”  


* * *

  
After the students were filed into their homerooms and received their schedules, the hallways filtered with bodies and everyone was either making their ways to their new lockers, or shuffling off into their first classes.  
  
“Hey Stinky I bet you our algebra teacher can’t pronounce my last name!”  
  
“You’re on!”  
  
And Sid and Stinky began to race each other down the crowded hallway for no reason at all, with Stinky hollering, “What the heck is it again anyways?”  
  
“I can’t believe we don’t have English together.” Rhonda was comparing her schedule to her friends, Vicki and Camille.  
  
“We’ll just have to gossip all about it when we get together at lunch!” Vicki proposed, and Camille agreed with a “Yeah!”  
  
“Social Studies… room 112 with Mrs. Loop…” Arnold read out loud to himself, studying the schedule as he walked through the halls.  
  
Nearby, Helga heaved a sigh at the piece of paper gripped in her hand.  
  
She couldn’t wait until she could get past all those basic, boring classes and start picking more specific ones for herself.  
  
“Who needs all these math classes anyways? I’d rather—“  
  
But as she rounded a corner quickly, eyes still glued to her paper, she conked her head on something hard that made her stumble back and fall on her butt.   
  
“OW, Crimedy!”  
  
“Yo Arnold!” Gerald’s voice called out as Helga rubbed her forehead to see the familiar face she collided with, then froze.  
  
 Arnold was rubbing his head as well, and the both of them looked equally surprised at the sight of each other.  
  
The moment was quickly seized by Gerald down the hall, who was asking if Arnold had class in 112 next.  
  
Arnold blinked and turned to look towards Gerald, answering, “Social Studies right? Yeah!”  
  
He propped himself up to get off the floor, and looked back towards Helga to offer her a hand up, but she was gone like a shadow.  
  
His half crooked expression looked around briefly through the bustling bodies in the hall, before he felt Gerald grab his hand and yank him away.  
  
“Come on Arnold, we’re gonna be late!”  
  
With a sharp few breaths as Helga peeked back around the corner to see Arnold getting pulled away, she sighed.  
  
“Oh Arnold…” she whispered in a hush, eyes darting around to make sure no one was in earshot. Most of the students were now settled into their classrooms.  
  
“It’s like the universe is trying to pull us together, and yet you keep getting ripped away!” She vented, glowering at the ground before she saw something there.  
  
She picked up a piece of paper and inhaled sharply at the writing on it.  
  
“Arnold’s schedule! He won’t know which classes he has next if he doesn’t have this! …Wait a second…”  
  
She quickly pulled out her own schedule and compared them side-by-side, silently cheering at the fact that several of their classes lined up.  
  
“Maybe there’s some way I can sneak this back to him… but first, for insurance purposes…”  
  
she quickly pulled her phone out and snapped a photo of his schedule.  
  
As a seasoned ' _Arnold stalker',_  Helga wasn't about to pass this info up.  
  
“H-Hey!!”  
  
Helga bolted upright where she stood, hearing the voice. She felt like she had just been caught doing something she shouldn’t have. She quickly looked around, noticing there was no one in earshot, but she heard the voice again.  
  
“I wasn’t making fun of you, no sir!”  
  
It was coming from around the corner, and curiosity led Helga to see what it was once a loud “BANG” followed. Someone getting shoved against the lockers?  
  
Helga peered over and saw a scrawny, short kid with brown spiky hair getting lifted into the air against the wall of lockers.  
  
The beast that was pinning him was rippling with muscles, and Helga frowned once she recognized the blonde-haired, pig nosed idiot in front of her.  
  
“Wolfgang. Ya couldn’t even wait till after first period to start harassing freshmans?”  
  
[](https://sta.sh/01hqf6q3ljvw)  
  
The two characters looked towards Helga in surprise from being interrupted, and the scrawny kid smiled at Helga and began to speak.  
  
“Ohhh you know each other! Good! I’m glad I could rekindle this friendship, I’ll be off to class now-- OOF!” He was pushed back against the lockets before he could weasel away.  
  
“Hey Pataki. Come to punch me in the face without warning too?” Wolfgang taunted.  
  
Helga’s eye twitched at the comment, but she held her resolve and crossed her arms.  
  
“No. Here’s your warning: Put him down.”  
  
“Sure, I’ll put him down. Just as soon as he pays up what he owes me!”  
  
“He doesn't owe you anything.” Helga retorted, and she looked to the victim. He had a peculiar pointy shaped head. With his messy hair, it looked like a vegetable.  
  
“Guys guys! No need to fight over little old me! I've got some cash here, hang on… no need for drama!” He dug around in his pocket and fished out some singles. Wolfgang looked down at the cash he presented with an ugly scowl, as if that wasn't what he wanted. Before he could react, however, Helga swiped the cash from the pointy boy's hand.   
  
“Hey!”  
  
Helga stepped back from Wolfgang’s reach and held the money away from him. Then she glared at the pointy boy and carefully said, “You Don’t. Owe him. Anything.”  
  
Gulping at the sight of Helga’s death stare, the boy decided right there that she was a bigger threat, and nodded slowly in response.   
  
Wolfgang dropped his victim and began stepping towards Helga in frustration.  
  
“Stay out of this, Pataki!” He warned, "Stop pretending to know what's going on."  
  
“Not in your life, butt nugget. Or should I call a teacher out here and get you suspended on day one?”  
  
Wolfgang stopped at that threat, squinting at Helga. “You wouldn't dare…”  
  
“My scream has been known to pierce windows. Try me.”  
  
The pointy boy looked tentatively between them for a few silent seconds, wondering who would crack in this staring contest.  
  
Finally, Wolfgang growled and crossed his arms.  
  
Helga turned her head up at him in a “I win” expression and dumped the money she’d taken back into the hands of Wolfgang’s victim, who looked dumbfounded.  
  
“Wow… thanks!”  
  
“Don’t sweat it radish head, now get going, I don’t got all day!” She boomed at him.  
  
‘Radish Head’ tiptoed past Wolfgang innocently as the bully sneered at his cheeky smile.  
  
As soon as Helga had turned away from Wolfgang and began to head off as well, he remarked, “Don’t think saving geekwads like that is gonna somehow make you a good person.”  
  
Helga kept her back to him, but she stopped.  
  
“Who said I was trying to be a good person?”  
  
“Oh don’t try to pretend I don’t see what you’re doing. Playing superhero to turn your reputation around. You’re no better than I am.” He huffed.  
  
“Yeah well at least I don’t go crashing into others for spare change!”  
  
And Helga finally started walking away from the scene. But then she heard him something softly, attached to a chuckle, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle...  
  
“Unlike your _mom_ crashing her car and getting that DUI.”  
  
Resolve gone.  
  


* * *

  
Before he knew what was what, Wolfgang found himself at the end of Helga’s fist as she grabbed him with one hand, and punched him hard in the cheek with the other.  
  
The straw that broke the camel’s back.  
  
Helga had officially snapped again, in less than 24 hours she was seeing red and using physical violence instead of communication.  
  
Although she was temporarily blinded by rage, she heard a clicking sound in back of her briefly. It distracted her for a split second, and that was enough for Wolfgang to come back at her.  
  
“Yeah that’s what I _thought!_ ” And the ‘thought’ was emphasized when Wolfgang retaliated and punched back.  
  
Trying to dodge his massive fist only landed Helga’s eye to be targeted, and she recoiled back onto her butt from his overwhelming power once it connected to to her face.  
  
“OW. That’s IT!!” She screamed, bouncing back up to kick him straight in the nether regions, leaving him to topple over in a girly shriek.  
  
“You really ARE a monster.” The burly bully squeaked in a raspy voice, complete with fetal position.  
  
Helga was breathing heavily from the adrenaline.  
  
“Yeah well, takes one to know one ya big buffoon!” And she stomped off, nearly bumping into someone as she rounded a corner.  
  
“What do you want, Radish Head?”  
  
The boy from before looked up at his hair curiously at the nickname, as if never hearing that one before. He then extended a hand.  
  
“To thank you, madam! You have saved my life, and I am eternally grateful!”  
  
Helga just stared at him as if he were an alien, not taking his outstretched hand. With her heart still racing from the fist fight, she wasn't really in the mood to be friendly.  
  
Radish Head just held his cheeky smile nervously as she glared at him.  
  
“I’m… Lennard. Or, Lenny as my non-existent friends would call me. Hah!”  
  
Helga’s expression went from annoyed, to cringey. Oh boy. What a nerd.  
  
Not like she had many friends either… but.  
  
“Look Lenny. It’s no big deal so just carry on and don’t make it one, okay? ...What are you looking at me like that for?” Helga asked, realizing just then that she was only looking down at this shrimp with one eye.  
  
“Are...are you okay?” Lenny gasped, pointing at her face.  
  
“What-” Helga quickly scrambled for her phone, sliding the camera open on it and using it as a mirror to see her own face.  
  
Her eye was already swelling, and with all that adrenaline, she’d barely felt it. But boy was she feeling it now. She could barely even see out of it. She tried to touch it, hissing an intake of breath between her tongue and teeth as a reaction.  
  
“Don’t touch it! We should get you to a nurse!”  
  
“No no no. I don’t want some skirt playing 20 questions with me and then callin’ my parents within the first hour of the first day of school.” Helga waved a giant X with her hands.  
  
“Hmmm.” Lenny pondered, then snapped his fingers ingenuously as if an idea light bulb had sprung to life above his pointy little head.  
  
“Don’t worry, I’ll make up an excuse so it won’t appear as if you’ve gotten into a fight! I’m good at weaseling my way out of a sticky situation!” he grinned.  
  
“Huh!” Helga scoffed, “Sure proved that earlier.”  
  
“Come onnnnn, please? You saved my bum back there. The least you could let me do is make sure your eye is okay.” He pleaded, doing a little funky dance to go with it.  
  
Helga just looked off scowling, wondering how she was going to get this monkey off her back.  
  
“Plus, the nurse will have to give us a late pass! You don’t want to show up tardy for your first day either, right?”  
  
Helga looked around, noticing the halls were now completely empty and she’d already missed being on time to her first class.  
  
Sighing, she heaved a “fine” and let Lenny drag her off to the nurse’s office.  


* * *

  
  
“Oh my, Helga! What on earth happened!?”  
  
Helga couldn’t believe that her primary school nurse was now working at her high school. The same preachy woman who gave her a good scold during her stunt back during April Fool’s Day, when Arnold had temporarily blinded her.  
_Great,_ Helga thought, _she recognizes me! This is gonna be even worse!_  
  
Lenny finally chimed in.  
  
_Oh. This better be good._  
  
“Well she was bending down to pick up her backpack and wouldn't you know it! She got rammed by… a… goat!”  
  
Helga and the nurse both raised their eyebrows.  
  
“A… goat?”  
  
“Yeah! A goat! With horns and everything!”  
[](https://sta.sh/01fguad0axf3)  
  
The nurse crossed her arms. “And why was there a goat in the school halls?”  
  
Helga looked stoned faced as she simply answered her instead.  
  
“Curly.”  
  
All three just blinked quietly for a couple of seconds.  
  
“Oh.” The nurse sighed.  
  
“Fine, just make sure to hold that ice pack over your eye and come back after your first period to swap it out!”  
  
She then pulled out her phone and started dialing a number.  
  
“I've got to call animal control…. AGAIN.”  


* * *

  
Helga and Lenny left the room, Lenny looking at her with raised eyebrows.  
  
“Should I even ask who Curly is?”  
  
Helga adjusted the ice pack on her eye and winced a bit. “Probably not.”  
  
“I see…” Lenny said, “Welp. It worked anyhow!”  
  
“Yeah nice _excuse_ by the way, chuckle-head. Anyways, I’m not out of the woods yet.” Helga said, looking at her eye from the front facing camera on her phone again. It wasn't bruised yet, but her eye was really pink and veiny.  
  
“My dad’s never gonna let this one go when I get back home...”  
  
Lenny looked at her a bit sideways, thinking at what she said. After a moment of them walking through the halls, he finally sprang to life.  
  
“I got it!”  
  
“What now.”  
  
“I know exactly how to fix this problem!” Lenny said, stopping at a classroom door. “Meet me near the back of building after school, and I promise I will help you fix this!”  
  
“Why should I!”  
  
“Because I owe you!”  
  
“So WHAT.”  
  
“So… so let me get this weight off my chest, okay? No one’s ever stood up for me like that before. Not at my last school at least… and I’m not gonna take no for an answer!”  
  
Lenny’s sudden, yet inspiring speech somehow touched Helga. She didn’t know why, and there was no way in hell she was gonna admit that, but it did cause her to sigh in defeat.  
  
“Fine. Not like I got any other choice.”  
  
“I knew that would get ya!”  
  
“Don’t push it, Radish Head.”  
  
“Alright alright!” Lenny waved his hands, “Well, this is my class, so I’ll see you!”  
  
Helga looked up at the door. 112. …..112. Helga’s eyes widened.  
  
“S-social Studies?” She asked somewhat desperately as Lenny held his hand on the doorknob.  
  
He looked down at his schedule. “Yeaahh?”  
  
Helga quickly and frantically fished a piece of paper out of her jacket pocket and stuffed it into Lenny’s hands.  
  
“You wanna do me a favor, right? Give this to a boy in that room, and don’t you DARE say anything about me.”  
  
Lenny looked down at the schedule and then back up at Helga, looking confused.  
  
“Uhhh sure, what does he look like?”  
  
“He’s got a football shaped head and blond hair that sticks out like an old used broom, okay?! Now don’t ask questions, just do it!” She hissed at him, spinning around and stomping off.  
  
“Aye aye, captain.” Lenny mumbled to himself as he watched this strange superhero girl stomp off down the hall.  


* * *

  
“Hey guys, welcome to Social Studies 1. I’m Mrs. Loop.” the teacher began to write her name on the dry erase board in front of her as she continued.  
  
“Not because I’m loopy or anything, hahah. But it does sometimes come as a side effect.” She winked at the class.  
  
Arnold and Gerald exchanged glances at each other, taking note of the eccentric teacher.  
  
The class began mostly as introductions and getting to know what they’d be learning this semester.  
  
Once the teacher had busied herself with talking about some rambling on history, Gerald learned over to Arnold and asked in a hushed voice, “Hey man, where were you this morning?”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“The guys and I were waiting for you outside before school started so I could introduce you! I thought your grandpa was driving you to school early.”  
  
Arnold sighed. “Yeah, about that. The car wouldn’t start and I had to take the bus. I almost didn’t get here at all since I don’t have a bus pass and I’m still holding San Lorenzo currency.”  
  
Gerald snickered, “Sounds like your morning back has been fun. How’d ya get here then?”  
  
Arnold blinked for a second, suddenly noticing a familiar figure sitting a few desks in front of them. He quickly pointed her out to Gerald.  
  
“That girl was on the bus! Her name’s Rita. She gave me some money to get on.”  
  
Gerald raised an eyebrow. “That girl up there dressed like a vampire? Doesn’t seem like the friendly type.”  
  
“No that’s the thing. She said it wasn’t her money, and that someone else told her to give it to me.”  
  
“What the heck.”  
  
“It’s weird! Right?”  
  
“We seem to have some chatterboxes in the back there. Listen up boys, or I just might give you all a pop quiz to make sure you’re paying attention!”  
  
Arnold and Gerald looked innocently at their classmates in the room who gave them both warning glances at the suggestion.  
  
Just then, the door opened, and Mrs. Loop walked over to see the new student in.  
  
The entire class directed their attention to the interruption, and the short, pointy boy with the vegetable head apologized for being late, handing the teacher what looked like a slip of paper.  
  
“There’s a couple of seats in the back there. Have a seat Mr. Waddell.”  
  
“Ohhh so formal, but mr. Waddell is my father.” He joked, and some of the other students chuckled a bit.  
  
“Fine.” Mrs. Loop patted him on the back to go sit down. “Since you missed introductions, this is Leonard, everyone.”  
  
“Getting close! But Leonard is my uncle. We call him ol’ greasy Leo.”  
  
The class chuckled again as this new class clown sat down next to Arnold.  
  
“Alright wise man, what would you like to be called?” She crossed her arms.  
  
“Lenny is good.” He gave her a thumbs up to go along with his coy smile.  
  
Gerald elbowed Arnold a bit and pointed to this new kid as if to silently say, ‘check this weirdo out’, and chuckled softly. Arnold just smiled back, shrugging.  
  
“Well now that Lenny has made his grand entrance, are we all ready to get back to it then?” Mrs. Loop just shook her head and went back to the dry erase board to continue with her lesson.  
  
Arnold looked at Lenny as he began unpacking his backpack to find a textbook.  
  
“We’re looking at page 11 right now.” Arnold told him, and Lenny whipped his head towards Arnold.  
  
“Oh, thanks!” He turned to the appropriate page, before looking back at Arnold with bug eyes and stating very bluntly with an accusing finger, “Oh wait a second! You have a football shaped head!”  
  
Arnold’s expression was just utter bewilderment. He did not know how to respond to this. Gerald was looking over with a raised eyebrow as well.  
  
“Thanks…?”  
  
Lenny just stared at Arnold’s hair for a second, before shaking his head to snap himself out of it and quickly grabbing a piece of paper out of his pocket.  
  
“Surprise!” He slapped a piece of paper on Arnold’s desk.  
  
Arnold looked down and noticed his schedule which he didn’t even know he was missing, but once he checked his pockets, he realized he must have dropped it earlier.  
  
“Oh, thanks! I haven’t had time to memorize my schedule, so I would’ve been lost without this! How did you know it was mine?”  
  
“No prob, buddy. I got your back. Well… actually…” He looked towards the door suspiciously, as if someone were listening.  
  
Arnold just continued to look confused, before Lenny reached in and whispered, “Someone got your back at least. A girl gave it to me to give to you.”  
  
“A girl?”  
  
“Ooooo.” Gerald laughed, and Arnold shot him a pointed look before turning back to Lenny.  
  
“Yeah uhh-- Oh shoot! I didn’t get her name!” He made a ‘punching the air’ gesture at the missed opportunity.  
  
Arnold was suddenly getting deja vu as he asked, “What did she look like?”  
  
But as Lenny opened his mouth to answer, their teacher interrupted them.  
  
“And since the chatterboxes in back seem to be ahead of the curve here, how’s about that pop quiz, everyone?”  
  
The entire class groaned, shooting irritated looks at the two of them.  
  
Arnold internally groaned for an entirely different reason.   
  
_Deja vu indeed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Helga. At least she tried to turn the other cheek. Right? (The other cheek being a well executed crotch shot. Go get em' tiger)
> 
> Sorry-not-sorry for the Toy Story easter egg. 
> 
> P.S. Lenny is a nerd.


	8. Shortman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arnold's misadventures of being late to a class and getting harassed by some jokers. Arnold the outcast? There must be a familiar face here somewhere...

The bell rang and Helga nearly sprinted from her chair to zoom out of the room and speed walk through the halls to find her next classroom. There was a very good reason why she intended to get to her next class early. She quickly glanced at her phone photos and peered at the photo she’d taken just an hour earlier.  
  
Arnold was in her next class.  


* * *

  
  
“Man Arnold, I hope no one in our next few classes is in this one, because they already hate us!” Gerald announced as they exited their first class.  
  
Arnold just sighed, studying his schedule. “Yeah… sorry about that.”  
  
“What were you talking about with that pointy kid anyways?”  
  
Arnold stood up straight and blinked for a second once Gerald’s question made him realize something.   
  
“Oh that’s right, I was gonna ask him--” he looked around at the other students exiting the room, and saw a familiar spiky head turning the corner down the hall.  
  
“Hey Lenny, wait up!”  Arnold quickly bolted after him.  
  
“Mmmm alright, guess I’ll see ya at lunch?” Gerald said practically to himself, shrugging and heading off to his own class.  
  
Arnold still was a scatterbrain, alright.  
  
Determined to get a question answered to whom this mystery girl was, Arnold weaved through the bodies of students and turned the corner to catch up with Lenny. To his dismay, someone called his name and distracted him from reaching his target. He turned around, looking for a familiar voice from his past, when he found two familiar girls.  
  
“Hey Sheena, Lila.” He greeted them as they came over. They were both wearing cutsie dresses and had their hair in braids. Sheena’s hair was so long it nearly touched the ground. Lila-- well, she looked almost the same as he remembered. He’d seen them both at his party the past night, but never got a chance to say hi to them.  
  
“Hello Arnold!” Sheena’s unusually deep voice took Arnold aback, but it was still somehow airy and full of a dreamy tone.  
  
“It’s ever so wonderful to see you here in school with us again!” Lila ran over towards him and unexpectedly enveloped him into a warm hug. He looked surprised, but hugged her back gratefully.  


* * *

  
Helga peeked into her next classroom, seeing only a teacher scribbling on the blackboard and a couple of nerdy looking girls sitting at the front desks so far.   
_  
Okay, good. I'm early. No Arnold yet.  
_  
She quickly glanced around the hallway to see if he was in sight, but did NOT expect to find him in the middle of an embrace with _Lila_ , of all people.  
  
“....Great. More crappy memories to fill my brain why dont’cha. Keep em coming!” Helga threw her arms into the air dramatically, making a few passersby raise their eyebrows as she stomped grumpily into her classroom.  
  
She knew Arnold had been well over his attraction for little miss perfect, but the sight of them hugging still pinched a nerve for her in that moment. Perhaps because of pure envy. How she longed to embrace him again. Like before, in that sweet period where he was hers…  
  
Helga shook her head furiously to snap herself out of it. She sat herself down in the back of the class, burying her face in a book while she waited for the other students to trickle in.  
  
_Stupid, chummy, friendly, polite, everyone's best friend, Arnold. Always gotta make time for absolutely everyone, spreading yourself as thin as ever… Grrr._  


* * *

  
Arnold smiled. It was in fact, nice to see them both. A part of him still felt pretty awkward for obsessing so hard over Lila in his youth, but she was always so forgiving and straight forward about it that it never got to him too much.  
  
He thought he heard a familiar, angry voice in the distance though, and it made his ears tingle.  
  
“I hope you’ve had a fun time back so far!” Lila said, releasing Arnold from the hug.  
  
“Yeah, heh. It’s been an… _interesting_ day.” He tried to be honest, while staying positive.  
  
“It must be so strange being back in the big city after living in the jungle for two years! You must have so many ever-so-intriguing stories to share!” Lila said.  
  
“I’m so jealous Arnold. I wish I could have lived that close to nature for so long!” Sheena chimed in.  
  
Arnold didn’t really know what to say. Yes? But he needed to get to class, and this wasn't really the time. Plus, he was looking for that Lenny guy!  
  
“Ahh-- it’s nice to see you two, I’ll tell you some stories later, okay?” And he quickly darted off.  
  
“Oh dear, I wonder what his hurry is.” Lila stated as the two of them watched him go.  
  
“...Nature calling?” Sheena giggled, still on topic. Lila giggled with her as they walked off.  


* * *

  
Arnold looked every which way, but there was no sign of Lenny anywhere, and his goal in mind was cut off completely when he heard the bell ring.  
  
“Dang it!” Arnold practically skidded across the floor to turn tail and dash to his next class. Finding Lenny and asking about the mystery girl would have to wait. He was going to be late for class! Priorities, man!  
  
He nearly squeezed through the door as the teacher was closing it, giving him a few raised eyebrows upon stepping into the classroom. It was quite a funny action.  
  
“I’m not late, am I?” Arnold panted.  
  
“Well, the bell did ring and I just took roll call...” the teacher; an old man with a white beard replied.  
  
Arnold just looked up at him with a mortifying expression.  
  
“...But since I technically didn’t close the door yet.” The old man begin, looking down at his clipboard, then looked back up at Arnold. “Shortman, I presume?”  
  
Arnold gave an innocent, ear to ear smile as his teacher gestured him to sit down.  
  
  
  
  
A few students snickered as he went to find a seat.  
  
“Cutting it real _short_ there, eh, _Shortman_?” Arnold noticed a kid with red hair and sharp, rectangle glasses jibbed towards him. Another student laughed at the joke; a Latino boy wearing a beanie.  
The two looked at each other and gave a funny finger wiggle hand gesture as if to one-up-each other for the dumb joke.  
  
Arnold sat down and took off his backpack, setting it near his feet as he paid attention to the teacher. There were a few murmurs from the class as a whole, and one of the conversations was intentionally audible to Arnold.  
  
“He doesn't look that _short_ to me though.” The beanie-wearing boy continued, chatting to his friend.  
  
“You’re right. He must just be really _down-to-earth_.” The glasses-wearing friend replied.  
  
“OHHH!!” the friend reacted, busting out in laughter at the continued jibes on Arnold’s last name.   
Somehow, it wasn't as funny as it was when his grandfather directed it at him. Jokes like that were less funny when they were made by complete strangers who didn't know you.   
Still, Arnold wasn't one to give into his irritations.  
  
Their laughter was quickly cut off, however, when the glasses-wearing boy jerked forward and made an “Ow!” sound, rubbing his temple suddenly. Arnold noticed this, and watched him look around in the direction of where he thought whatever hit him came from. Arnold blinked when he looked in that same direction.  
  
“Alright you guys, settle down. Class is started now. Come back to the realm of reality with me.” The teacher reprimanded the chit chat, and the two jokers shut up along with everyone else.  
  
Arnold continued to glance back towards the back of the class, though. When all of the students finally were sitting straight in their seats, he could see everyone better.  
  
He didn't really recognize anyone in this class so far. None of his old friends greeted him upon entering, and for once in his life, he actually felt pretty isolated from everyone else. As if they all knew each other and he was the outcast. But just then, the blond bangs he spotted in the back made his eyes light up.  
  
_Helga?_  
  
Helga felt eyes on her and glanced over her shoulder towards the front of the class, catching eyes with Arnold, who just stared for a second, until he brightened up and smiled at her.  
  
Needless to say, she started instantly freaking out in her own head. She didn’t know how to respond. He was way the heck on the other side of the room and the teacher was talking. Should she just smile back? She wasn’t feeling very smiley… not after seeing Lila hugging him in the hallway and watching him get made fun of as he came into class.  
  
She looked down anxiously at her notebook on her desk, playing with a corner of her page that seemed to be ripped off.  
  
Arnold tilted his head slightly when she didn’t seem to acknowledge him. Maybe he should have waved or something. Hoping she’d look back and he could get her attention again, he continued to watch her. He frowned when he noticed her holding something up against the other side of her face. What was that? An ice pack? Oh no, what happened?  
  
“Shortman!”  
  
Arnold made a weird, surprised yelp as he whipped his head back towards the front of the class and met eyes with his teacher, who looked very cross.  
  
The other students chuckled at his reaction. Helga looked up curiously.  
  
“I’m up here, not back there. Want me to mark you tardy after all?” He threatened.  
  
“Ahh- no, sir. I’m sorry.” Arnold slumped his shoulders and ducked down in his seat a bit. His response was so formal and obedient that it gained a few more snickers from the usual suspects. Boy was he feeling stupider by the minute.  
  
His teacher finally went back to the blackboard and started scribbling more text onto it as he talked. Arnold just watched with his head in his hand, feeling real dumb at this point.  
  
Then he felt a poke at his elbow by a pencil next to him. He looked over to his right and saw the same girl from the bus sitting next to him, Rita. She looked a bit annoyed towards him at this moment as she whispered.  
  
“I swear to god, if you give us another pop quiz, _Shortchange_ …” She squinted at him.  
  
_Oh, great._   
  
Arnold just smiled an ‘I’m sorry’ expression innocently at her before he faced the front again, sighing inwardly. He started to feel eyes on his back at that moment, and the thought of Helga witnessing all that was just icing on the embarrassment cake.  
  
_This was going to be quite the first day, wasn’t it?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shortman is a short chapter.  
> How terrible ironic. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	9. If you're hoppy and you know it...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arnold makes it his goal to at least say hi to Helga today, but things keep interrupting him. Science class has some familiar faces, and some familiar chaos...

  
So his first class was fine.   
Except for the fact that everyone hated him and Gerald for the pop quiz their teacher sprung on them for chatting.   
No big deal.   
Second class was okay, even though his math teacher seemed to have a grudge against him now, and some classmates were giving him a hard time. They were just kidding around, and Arnold was sure his teacher would come around. He knew first impressions were never the full story.   
...Speaking of which.   
  
Arnold was insistent on at the very least saying hi to Helga before getting to his next class. He tilted his head towards her direction subtly, pretending to be stretching in order to see her towards the back of the room. Before he could see what she was doing however, he caught eyes with the beanie-wearing kid, who promptly made a goofy face at him and gestured for Arnold to have his eyes up front. The glasses-wearing buddy of his made a similar gesture and they both silently snicked with each other on Arnold’s behalf.   
He quickly turned back around and inwardly sighed.   
  
The bell finally rang and Arnold began putting his things away into his backpack, turning his head to see Helga doing the same. He stood up and made his way over to her through the bodies getting up to leave the class. Arnold heard the two knuckleheads from earlier call out a familiar name, and he was momentarily distracted.   
“Gerald!”  
  
He looked to see his best friend make his way into the classroom and slap a friendly hand shake to the guy with rectangle glasses. The beanie-wearing lad was joining in the greeting as well. Once Gerald spotted Arnold, he smiled and moved towards him.   
“Hey Arnold! I have this class next. Hope you didn’t piss this teacher off too.” He joked.   
“Uhhhh.”   
“Too late!” The beanie-wearer called out, and Gerald looked back at him with a surprised expression.   
“Oh boy.” Gerald said.   
  
“Wait a second, so Shortman is _Arnold_? The _famous_ Arnold?” the glasses-wearer came over to adjust his specs as he laid new eyes onto Arnold, who just stood there looking confused.  
“You bet! Arnold, this is my boy Rhett!” Gerald hung his arm around the tall white boy with the rectangle glasses. He had a head of short red hair and was very snazzy dressed.   
Arnold wondered for a brief second if he and Gerald did their shopping together.   
  
“And this here is Toni! We call him Mr. Penny-pincher. Always knows how to get the best deals.” The kid wearing the beanie was latino, pretty fit, and sported some cool spiky black hair.   
  
“Oh wow, I’ve heard a lot about you guys!” Arnold shook their hands. His eyes glanced over toward the back of the room, where he saw Helga looking up at their interaction as she put her things away. She looked a little tense.   
“Likewise! Gerald’s told us all about that epic, Indiana Jones style adventure in San Lorenzo! Now can you confirm: Did Gerald actually get pushed off a cliff by a boulder, catch himself, and scale it back up?”   
Arnold laughed, as Gerald was waving his hands at his friends as if to say, ‘leave it!’.  
“I’m pretty sure he just lost his balance and was about to fall, but Helga and I pulled him back before he could.”   
  
At the mention of her name, Arnold quickly looked back to find Helga, who was was now missing from her desk. He panned the room to see her just as she walked out the door, and he curved an eyebrow in frustration for missing her.   
  
“Ah-HAH!”  
“Found OUT, son! OHHHH.” Rhett and Toni continued to give Gerald crap about his lie as he just stood with his arms crossed and admitted, “So I may have embellished the story a bit. Purely for entertainment purposes of course.”   
“Right Gerald. You’re almost as bad as grandpa.”   
  
More burns were heard from the two friends towards Gerald before the teacher yelled at them all to move along before the bell rang.   
  
“So Arnold, hook up with us after next period for lunch. We’ll meet you in the cafeteria!” Gerald said.   
“Yeah you can help us dismantle more of Gerald's jungle lies!” Rhett mocked Gerald, who promptly swatted at him in mock anger.   
Arnold chuckled before nodding in agreement, and heading to his next class.   
  
So the two kids who were giving him a hard time in class were Gerald’s friends? It seemed like it was all just kidding around, but Arnold wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about them because of it. Oh well. What better way to get to know them more than at lunch?   
  


* * *

  
  
So her first class was fine.   
Except all of the looks her teacher and class gave her upon entering late with an ice pack pressed up against her eye.   
No big deal.  
Helga decided to hold it against her face the entire time so no one would be able to see the bruise behind it. This made taking notes with one hand difficult, but heck she was talented, so screw the gawkers! They could get their entertainment somewhere else. Like that shirt their teacher was wearing. She suspected this woman was trying to be hip with meme culture. But seriously, _long cat_? What year was it?  
  
Second class was… well, unsuccessful to say the least. Arnold was too distracted by all his new friends to notice her. Although he did genuinely look happy to see her in the back of class. Helga simply brushed it off, embarrassed about her black eye, and about last night. Plus, Arnold was always happy to see anyone he knew. He certainly didn’t look real pleased with the harassment from Gerald’s posse. Luckily her ninja spitball tactics were still well polished enough to end that crap.   
Stupid Rhett.   
She secretly hoped Arnold wouldn’t get roped into that group of friends, although being best friends with Gerald, it was only inevitable.   
Stupid Gerald.   
  
It didn’t take long for her to speed walk out of there before any of them could notice. Not like they would. She quite liked getting to class early as opposed to later. Less gawkers.   
  
Okay okay. Next class, science.   
Helga walked through the halls of students, looking around suspiciously before pulling out her phone and glancing down at her copy of Arnold’s schedule. He was in this next class as well.   
Oh boy.   
She really couldn’t decide whether or not she should go out of her way to speak with him, or to avoid him. Her head was full of so many insecurities, past memories, and assumptions clogging her rational thoughts.   
Stupid brain!   
  
Arnold was clearly the same, gentle, old soul with a heart of gold that wanted to help everyone. And she was… well she was still angry. Clearly. How would things be any different than they were before? Was it worth getting her heart broken all over again?   
Stupid Arnold!   
  
Helga promptly decided he was worth avoiding today. She could connect with him later. Once her black eye was gone. Yeah, that was a good plan.   
  
In the thick of her thoughts, a little tap of her shoulder caused Helga to scream, jump into the air, and toss her phone all at once. She knew she was good at multitasking, but this was just too much.   
Spinning around, she could see the source of her freak out had luckily caught her phone.   
  
“Sorry Helga! Did I interrupt a deep thought?”   
Helga was both relieved and annoyed to see her best friend.   
“Phoebe! No! I mean I was just-” she looked at the phone in Phoebe’s hand, quickly swiping it back before she could see the photo of Arnold’s schedule. She knew Helga was still a bit smitten, but she didn’t need to know that she was back to flat-out stalking. Not that _this_ was stalking! Just honest to god preparation! Oh crimedy this was starting all over again, wasn't it?  
  
“-Just, checking my schedule. What’s up?”   
“Well, next period is lunch, and... Helga why do you have an ice-pack pressed up against your eye?" Phoebe finally pointed out.  
"Sinus headache. Not enough carbs in the morning. Nurse hooked me up so it'll blow over soon." Helga reassured her as casually as she could.  
"Oh my, make sure to drink plenty of water!" Phoebe recommended, and Helga mentally fist pumped herself for fooling the clever Phoebe... for now.   
Great, she was congratulating herself for lying to her best friend now. Way to go Helga old girl.   
  
"Anyway, I wanted to let you know the girls and I will save a table near the vending machines.”   
“Who’s all coming?” Helga curved a brow.   
“Well London and Nora will be there, and Nora’s exchange student friend Nishi wanted to join us too!”   
  
Helga tried not look disappointed, but her smile was a bit strained when she nodded in agreement. Phoebe’s friends from her Asian Student Collective club (Which all members were also in the mathematicians club, go figure) were nice and all, but she never really felt like she fit in, and sometimes just wanted Phoebe all to herself. Phoebe had told her that she needed to ‘allow’ herself to let them in, but that was harder than her friend realized.   
Plus, she didn’t know Japanese, so there was that.   
  
“I have math next, so I better run along. See you at lunch Helga!” Phoebe chirped cheerfully as she ran off.   
Helga just sighed, and marched off to her next class.   
  


* * *

  
  
“Do you think we’ll get to blow something up on the first day?”  
“I dunno Sid. I don’t see any a’ them beavers or flaps anywhere.”   
“I think you mean beakers and flasks, Stinky. I sure hope you’re not gonna blow up a beaver.” corrected a punk girl with pink dyed hair and spiked bracelets, looking a bit cross with Stinky at his idiocy. She blew a pink bubble and popped it before Sid’s eyes got wide with an idea.   
“Dude. That would be AWESOME.”   
“Uh, gross, no! That’s totally cruel!”   
“But what if it was a roadkill beaver? Would that work?” Stinky chimed in.   
“No because it’s still gross. You two are gross.”  
  
Sid and Stinky laughed, and Arnold noticed them all sitting around a desk together as he walked in.   
  
“Awww Piper you know you love us! Guts and all!” Sid pushed into her face obnoxiously and Stinky gave a “That’s right!” as they continued laughing.   
Piper stuck her tongue out and pushed Sid’s face away so hard he fell right off the desk.   
“I only love you for your musical talent. Don’t push it.”   
Stinky was still laughing, even as Sid groaned from the floor. He then saw a hand out for him to take, and grabbed it to pull himself up.   
  
“Arnold! My old buddy old pal! Great to see ya!” Sid greeted him graciously as he was pulled up.   
“Hey Arnold! We get a class together like old times!” Stinky said.   
“I can tell you two are already up to no good.” Arnold smirked.   
“Good to know these brainless losers were always so hollow. Hey, I’m Piper.” She introduced herself to Arnold, waving a friendly salute. Arnold waved back at her in return.   
“Nice to meet you. Are you keeping them in line, then?”   
“Damn straight. I’m the boss. I tell them where to dig, and they start digging.”  
“I don’t get it,” Stinky cut in, “What are we diggin’? I thought we was in a band.”   
Piper looked squarely at Arnold, “See what I mean?”  
Arnold just chuckled, finally taking his seat near them and scouting out the rest of the class as the teacher went to close the door and begin class.   
  
Upon taking a gander, Arnold noticed a few familiar faces here. Was that Peapod Kid? ...Arnold felt bad he never actually knew the kid’s real name, but that cool demeanor and haircut could only be him. Arnold nodded in recognition towards him, and he did the same.   
  
And then there was Curly! ...Arnold decided it might be best not to acknowledge Curly.   
  
Lastly, there was Helga again, in his class twice in a row. He could tell by the tufts of blonde hair poking out from behind her, but she was holding a book in front of her face, so he couldn’t acknowledge her. He did notice something missing on her, though, and brightened up when he realized what he remembered to tuck away into his pocket this morning. That might be a good icebreaker, if anything.   
With new resolve, Arnold swore he was not going to get interrupted this time and would talk to her. It was only fair, he needed to give back her bow after all, right?  
  
“Pssstttt, Sid, ya feelin’ a little nostalgic?” Stinky whispered to Sid as he pointed back towards the back of the class, where some subtle little croaks were coming from.   
Arnold glanced back to see, as well as Sid and Piper. There was a giant tank filled with frogs.   
“Awwww I miss Sidney.” Sid whined quietly.   
“I remember him. He was a good pet frog.” Arnold chimed in, and Piper looked instantly offended.   
“ _ **Sid**_ ney? You seriously named a frog after yourself?” she mocked.   
  
The three of them snickered at Sid. Arnold was enjoying the memories, but looked back towards the front of the class so he wouldn’t get in trouble again. If any crowd was bound to get in trouble, it was these three.   
  
Helga rolled her eyes behind her notebook, scribbling something in it as she listened to these clowns. She was instantly taking back her wish for Arnold not to hang with Gerald’s crew of friends.   
_As long as he doesn’t hang with this circus, I don’t care._  
  
Their science teacher, a woman in her 30’s, was lively and very excited about her subject. She spent most of the class talking about what to expect, safety equipment, and all of the fun things she had planned. Nearly the entire period had gone by in a blink and no one seemed bored.   
Arnold was happy to see her enthusiasm, and how involved and hands-on she was planning on making this class. So were Sid and Stinky, who both had their hands raised for questions.   
She pointed to Stinky to answer.   
“Mrs. Q, what’s with the frogs?” He pointed back, and every student looked back towards the tank.   
  
“Ahhh good eye you've got there Mr. Peterson! Those frogs will be our final for the semester! We will be doing a live dissection and--”   
  
“A live dissection? BLASPHEMY!” Came an outraged voice from the back, and everyone looked towards it. Arnold didn’t have to look to know who that was from.   
  
Curly was now standing up on his chair to make a point, still with the awkward bowl cut and thick round glasses.  
“Simply egregious! Horrendous! Barbaric! Have you no shame, Mrs. Q? Are our mucus-covered friends not cut out for a long and fruitful life of hopping and… ribbeting?!” Curly sounded very much like he was reciting a play.   
“Oh brother, here we go…” Helga muttered under her breath.   
  
“Please do sit down, er…” Mrs. Quarry quickly grabbed her clipboard to figure out who this goon was.   
“That’s just Curly.” Sid answered, and Curly shot him a pointed glare from a top his chair.   
“I TOLD you not to call me that anymore! It’s Thaddeus! Thaddeus I tell you!”   
“This ain’t stage class, _Theodore_ , sit down already.” Piper quipped, and Sid bro-fisted her for it. She accepted it, but didn’t looked too thrilled.   
  
Curly was about to react, but the teacher was standing next to him with her arms crossed. He observed her carefully, before deciding to quietly sit himself back down.   
Some of the class murmured and snickered as Mrs. Quarry finally began to walk back to the front of the class. Arnold stayed quiet, hoping Curly wasn’t prone to snapping like he was in grade school.   
  
“Now I know it sounds a bit, ‘barbaric’ as young Thaddeus puts it, but I assure you they feel no pain during the process. Now, there’s a lot we can learn about our own bodies from this study, and anyone interesting in becoming a surgeon might be interested in--”   
  
Her sentence was cut off when a very large “THUMP” was heard towards the back of the class. That’s when pandemonium happened.   
The sound of Curly’s insane laughter exiting the room was quickly ignored by the scene of dozens of frogs suddenly hopping all over the room, their tank tipped over on its side.   
  
The girls screamed. The boys screamed. The teacher even screamed. It was absolutely chaos.   
“N-nobody panic, now! We just need to get these little guys back in--” Mrs. Quarry let out a shriek when a frog suddenly hopped past her leg, and she all but hopped like one herself onto her desk.   
  
“Mrs. Q! You’re a science teacher and you’re afraid of frogs?!” Piper had quickly squeaked out, yelping herself and grabbing at Sid as a couple of frogs crossed her path. Sid gave a cheeky smile and Piper angrily gripped him harder to shut him up. He yelped with a cracked, girly shriek, but didn’t stop smiling.   
  
“I don’t handle them while they’re alive and... hopping! My husband does that for me!” Mrs. Quarry answered, quivering at the top of her desk.   
  
Arnold was just dumbfounded at this point. There was too much going on to process all of this. Half the class had already run out of the room in panic, and those that remained were either trying to catch the frogs or hiding on top of their desks.   
He remembered he was definitely not scared of frogs, and therefore he should help.   
  
“GUH, get it off me!”   
“Willekers…”  
“Don’t worry, I got this.” Sid flexed his rubbery arms and slicked back his greasy hair that hung out from his green beanie, obviously to impress with his frog catching skills.   
  
Helga was about to book it. She wasn’t scared of frogs… as long as they stayed off of her. But she wasn’t touching them either. Would she really be marked as tardy if half the class already left?   
  
“There’s a frog up there on the ceiling beams!” Mrs. Quarry pointed out, and many of the students looked up, wondering how the heck it got up there. Were these flying frogs?   
One curious, bald-headed looking student-- one Arnold had never seen before, silently began climbing up the wall like some monkey to reach the beams.   
  
“Boy howdy that guy knows how to parkour!” Sid commented, holding close to seven frogs in his arms.   
“So _flexible_.” Piper giggled.   
Sid looked at Piper, who was watching the bald kid impressively, and then quickly shoved the frogs into Stinky’s arms.   
“Oh yeah? That’s nothing. I can do that even faster!” And he was already sprinting towards the wall to show off.   
“Break a leg, Sid.” Piper rolled her eyes.   
  
[](https://sta.sh/01legtddaj6m)  
  
Stinky, who was now holding a bunch of squirming frogs, walked towards the teacher who was still marooned on her desk.   
“Mrs. Q? Where do reckon these fellers should go?”   
Mrs. Quarry squirmed uncomfortably as Stinky wandered towards her with the frogs, “Just, Just over there somewhere! Where they can’t escape!”   
  
Arnold went over to the tank and began his attempt to lift it back up, his shoes splashing in the water drenched floor. Aughh. Wet socks were the worst.   
Now committed, he strung his fingers underneath the tank’s lid and began hoisting it up, but the thing was at least a 75 gallon tank and still half filled with water and terrain. He could barely lift it a few inches. Maybe this was a stupid idea. Probably.   
Just as he was about to drop the thing, he felt the weight suddenly lift from his fingers and move up. He blinked in confusion for second before a voice boomed at him.   
  
“Put a little muscle into it, football head!” Helga had picked up the other side and was heaving it up through gritted teeth.   
“Sorry!” Arnold snapped back into reality and hoisted it up with her help, the both of them straining to get it tipped back upright, until it clonked back into place.   
“Hey, thanks.” Arnold said in a pant, trying to catch his breath.   
Helga was rubbing her forehead and looking at him from the side. “No problamo. Welcome back to _Hell'wood_.” She said sarcastically, and Arnold laughed.   
She turned to face him, surprised at the unfamiliar response of someone laughing at her remarks with genuine humor, and Arnold’s face instantly changed into a surprised expression when he saw her full face. Her right eye was all bruised up. It looked really fresh.   
  
_Dangit._  
  
Helga had completely forgotten her decision she had JUST made to avoid Arnold for a while for this very reason. Ding dong _dangit._  
They were finally looking at each other in the eyes for what seemed an eternity of lost time, that being two years of lost time. At least that's what it felt like for Helga, but son-of-a-biscuit did this timing really suck.  
  
She was about to come up with an excuse to exit from the scene before Arnold could ask about it, but she ended up not needing one, because a frog landed on her head.   
  
“Look out below!” Called Sid, who Arnold saw was on the support beams above them with that bald kid. Before he could react however, Helga was shrieking and running out of the room. Arnold haphazardly caught the frog that flew off her head in the process.   
  
“Heeeey, nice catch Arnold! That’s the last one!”   
Arnold heaved a sigh for about the 46th time that day. This was starting to get old.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favorite chapter so far because it reminds me most of the original ridiculousness of the show.   
> Why is it always so much fun to torture Arnold??  
> Also no I am not sorry for the horrible pun in this title.


	10. Cliques

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch period begins and Arnold and Helga both have their own issues dealing with all these overwhelming friend circles. Finding where you belong in high school sucks.

  
_Finally…. Lunch._  
  
12 frogs later, 3 insane classes, one pair of soggy shoes, and an obnoxious talking watch mom, it was finally time to relax and eat. (Arnold was starting to come up with his own special version of The Twelve Days of Highschool at this rate.)  
  
“Moisture level increased by 33%. Remember that I am water-resistant, not waterproof!”  
  
Ahh, speaking of 'watch-mom'.  
  
Arnold quickly wiped the face of his fancy watch with his sleeve, hoping she was happy now. Great, now the device even had a gender.  
  
_Well you have been referring to her as watch-mom. What did you expect?_  
  
“Yo, Arnold!”  
  
Arnold looked up to see the latino kid with the beanie running up to him, one of Gerald’s buddies.  
  
“Hey ah, Toni!” He pointed at him, glad to have remembered his name. There were a lot of new names to remember today after all.  
  
“Yeah bro, you passed the quiz! I’ll show you where the guys are meeting up at, come on!”  
  
Arnold didn’t know how to feel about being called a ‘bro’ by this guy yet, but he began to follow him towards the cafeteria.  
  
“Hey who were you talking to? I thought I heard a woman’s voice.” Toni asked.  
  
“Er, no one.” Arnold said.  
  
_Just my watch-mom._  


* * *

  
  
“Ohhh Arnold! My stupid, goody-two-shoes, frog catching emancipator of the student body!” Helga wailed, pacing around outside the school furiously, her words echoing into the windy air as she vented.  
  
“I can’t believe the ONE chance I get to actually have a moment with the guy, and I get hindered by Curly’s ribbeting revenge! Hmm. I guess I did lie about him bringing a goat into the school earlier. Is this some kind of sick and twisted karma? More like green and slimy. Augh!”  
  
She threw her arms up in frustration, the air cutting through them as the sleeves of her jacket fell down. It was cold, but she didn’t care. She needed to blow off steam and the chilly wind felt nice. Maybe that’s why no one else was out here. Well, all but one other.  
  
“But none of that even MATTERS because I’ve already royally screwed everything up with this!” She bent her knees and dramatically pointed squarely at her black eye.  
  
“So now I need to avoid everyone again or they’ll think I’m just a big jerk who gets in fights and yells at everyone! And the worst part is-- it’s pretty much true!”  
  
Helga finally stopped to catch her breath, and an audible breathing crept its way into her ears. She snapped her head back to see a familiar, braces-wearing, glasses-wearing, anomaly of a human being staring back at her as he sat on the bench before her. Just, breathing away.  
  
Helga tilted her head, as if hearing something that no one else could, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed in reaction.  
  
“NO, I _cannot_ just go have lunch with Phoebe as planned! Sheesh!”  
  
Brainy just kept sitting there with his crooked metallic smile and breathed away.  
  
“Because!” Helga responded, “She’ll see my eye, and get all concerned, and start fussing over me in front of her smarty-pants little Asian friends and it’ll be super embarrassing and I just don’t wanna deal with it!” She crossed her arms stubbornly, letting the quiet breathing of Brainy fill the air again for a moment.  
  
[](https://sta.sh/02f8upbbd9w2)  
  
“Yeah, I know she’s my best friend….” Her voice a bit calmer now.  
  
Breathing resumed.  
  
“Yeah, I know she won’t ask if I tell her not to…” Helga’s eyes narrowed.  
  
More breathing.  
  
Helga’s eyebrow was practically twitching at this point, before she erupted with a, “FINE! I’ll go eat lunch with her if it’ll shut you up already! I don’t know why I even listen to you, but if this fails you’re gonna need a new pair of glasses like back in the olden days, bucko!” Helga waved her fist around his face threateningly, but Brainy’s smile never wavered.   
  
He merely muttered an incoherent, “uhhh.” as she stormed off.  
  
“Yeah yeah, I know that threat is regressing behavior. Thanks for the reminder. _Not!_ ”  
  
And with that very interesting consoling, Helga made her way back into the school and to the lunch room.  


* * *

  
  
“Dude, no. I am not talking about an ape on our podcast next week.”  
  
“But it reflects on today’s society and the progression of the past years!”

“I’d say that was more of a meme than a story.”  
  
“In this day and age, Gerald, what’s the difference between a meme and trending news?”  
  
Gerald, who was in a heated debate with Rhett at the table they were sitting at currently, stroked his chin thoughtfully.  
  
“So now we’re talking about the difference between memes and news?”  
  
“More like how the new generation takes in news AS memes in order to circulate it.”  
  
“Hmm, I will admit, that is intriguing. Solid. Write that down.” Gerald nodded in approval and gave his friend a special handshake. It was somewhat similar to the handshake Arnold and him had, but with a little fist bump added on and a different hand symbol.  
  
Arnold noticed this, because he and Toni had just approached the table while they had finished their debate. It was nice to see Gerald had such a tight knit posse of friends to hang out with, and seemed especially close to this Rhett guy. Somehow though, Arnold couldn’t help feel a bit forlorn at the sight, but quickly snapped out of it when Gerald stood up from the table and waved the two over.  
  
“Hey, took you long enough! Don’t tell me… another catastrophe class?”  
  
Arnold heaved a big sigh as Toni smiled and patted him hardily on the back. “Something like that.” He said vaguely, not really wanting to explain how insane his science class was. He wasn’t even sure he believed it himself quite yet.  
  
Gerald actually started laughing. Arnold and Toni looked confused for a moment, before Rhett chimed in.   
  
“Zander told us all about it. Man, what I would have given to see that! Did the teacher really scream bloody murder when the frogs got out?”  
  
Arnold looked towards the boy Rhett had gestured to, and noticed the familiar bald kid from before who was climbing the walls. He was looking at Arnold with a big toothy grin and nodding, but not saying a word.  
  
“Oh, hey! You’re one of Gerald’s friends?” Arnold asked.  
  
Zander only responded with a goofy flexed arm and a bigger smile. The black boy rippling with muscles was wearing a jersey underneath his sports jacket and even had some tattoo initials on his arms. He definitely had a tough-guy look, so the goofy grin was kind of funny.  
  
“Zander is currently doing a challenge for our podcast and documenting what it’s like to communicate as a mute for a month.” Gerald explained. “So he can’t make a peep until then, or he also loses our bet.”  
  
“Oh, that’s, really interesting! You’re just doing it for a… pod... cast?” Arnold asked.  
  
Everyone looked at Arnold like he was insane.  
  
Gerald just chuckled. “Arnold come on. I told you about this over the phone a few times, remember? A podcast is like a radio show, only it’s a recording you access over the internet.”  
  
“Oh right! Your show! Sorry, I knew that.” Arnold laughed nervously, feeling even more technologically ignorant than his grandparents at this point.  
  
“Anyways, Zander’s doing it for our podcast, sure, but it’s also because his brother is a mute and has struggled his whole life communicating. So big bro Z here is committed to spreading the word about mutism and is hoping the HSHA will recognize his brother’s story and help build awareness.”  
  
“Wow, that’s really admirable.” Arnold smiled at Zander, who bowed humbly in appreciation.  
  
“Heh YEAH, especially since Z is the biggest gossip that ever lived and none of us believe he can do it.” Toni chuckled with Gerald, who was looking down at his phone seeing as he had just received a message.  
  
“Oh snap T, check it!” Gerald pointed to his phone, and Toni instinctively reached for his own to see what the buzz was about. Arnold saw him read the message and scream into Zander’s face, “OH it’s ONNN!!” before puffing up at him in a joking matter.  
  
As they all laughed, (Well, Zander just sort of whisper laughed) Arnold leaned over to Gerald to asked what was going on.  
  
“Zander just messaged us in our group chat about raising the bet,” Gerald explained between laughs, “this is how he’s been chatting with us since the whole challenge started.” he waved his phone at Arnold.  
  
Suddenly he felt a poke at his arm, and saw Zander pointing to his phone and then back to Arnold, grinning wildly, as if to try and tell him something.  
  
“Naaa Z, I don’t think Arnold even has a cellphone yet.” Gerald explained for him, and Zander raised his arms dramatically as if to say ‘whaaaat?’.  
  
“Heh yeah, oh which reminds me!” Arnold pulled out a notebook and passed it over onto the table in front of everyone. “Could you guys write down your names and phone numbers for me until I get one?”  
  
“Now that is old fashioned. Just like Gerald said you’d be.” Rhett chuckled, pulling out a pen and scribbling down his info.  
  
“Maybe we should do a podcast about Arnold and how one adapts to the technology of the future after spending a decade in the rainforest.” Toni suggested, writing down his name next.  
  
“T, I’ve told you a million times that he was not in the goddamn rainforest, and it was two years dude.” Gerald punched Toni on the shoulder.  
  
“Yeah he’s not Tarzen, you dumbass.” laughed Rhett, “swinging around with monkeys and wearing a loincloth.”  
  
“Oh my god can we please not put that image in my head? You're all terrible.” Gerald just shook his head disapprovingly, but they were all holding back laughter at this point.  
  
Arnold was just feeling like the butt of a joke at this point as he watched Zander smirk in response while he jotted down his number. They all seemed to have their pile of inside jokes to pull from as they conversed, and Arnold wasn’t super sure how to mesh with it all. He laughed with them anyway, albeit a bit forced.  
  
“You bring a lunch, Arnold?” Rhett nudged him as the rest of them began unpacking their lunches. Toni seemed to have his in a strange lunch box labeled ‘human organs for transplant’.  
  
“Oh- no I was sort of in a hurry this morning and didn’t pack one.” Arnold said.  
  
“You need some money for the lunch line?” Gerald offered, but Arnold just waved him off as he stood up.  
  
“S’okay, I’ve got enough.” he smiled, waving a few bills from his pocket that he received from that morning. “I’ll be right back.”  


* * *

  
  
When Helga finally approached the table where Phoebe was, she was already there with her other friends. She couldn’t understand a word of what was going on or how to enter a conversation spoken entirely in japanese. Great.  
  
There was Phoebe, giggling away at whatever they were talking about. Probably math or something.  
  
The girl to her right was Nora, her second BBF, and Helga’s arch rival. (Not really. The girl was a philosophical Phoebe clone, but very sweet. Helga just didn’t like anyone competing with her for BFF rights) Nora wore tufty pigtails that stuck out from the top of her head and always had some new hair clips. She wore glasses like Phoebe (see earlier note about ‘Phoebe clone’) although she had a much sharper face.  
  
Helga always thought Nora was a mess, to be honest. She overworked herself to death and was always killing herself to keep up with Phoebe.  
  
To Phoebe’s left was London, a larger Asian girl with chubby cheeks and a huge perverted sense of humor. (Which Helga could appreciate) She was downright hilarious and a big science nerd as well. She mostly loved to faun over hot guys and talk about tacos.  
  
The last girl, a very petite Asian with a silly little ‘kawaii’ frog hat, Helga didn’t recognize at all, but she looked like she was having a fun conversation with the rest of them.  
  
After about three hundred decades, Phoebe finally noticed Helga standing there behind them and smiled widely when she saw Helga, calling her name and giving her a hug.  
  
“Oh my--” Phoebe clearly was gasping at Helga’s revealed eye, which was indeed swollen and still hurting like hell, but Helga made a swipe of the throat gesture to Phoebe.   
Taking the hint, she gulped, made a crooked smile, and then turned to the rest of the girls, ignoring the issue for now.  
  
“You remember Nora, and London.” Phoebe gestured to the two girls, who smiled and waved politely. Helga waved back with a bit of an awkward smile herself.  
  
“And this is Nishi! She’s a friend of Nora’s, who recently moved here last month.”  
  
Nishi smiled her perfectly adorable doll-like face and uttered out a “Hajimemashite!” to Helga in the cutest anime voice she’d ever heard in her life. Seriously, the girl was like a humanized version of a pikachu.  
  
“Er… konnichiwa.” Helga responded back, and Nishi sputtered into a series of giggles and japanese that Helga did not understand.  
  
The other two laughed as well as Helga stared at Phoebe for clarification on what was so dang funny.  
  
“She really likes your accent,” Phoebe chuckled.  
  
“ _What_ accent?”  
  
She was soon seated down with the rest of them and prayed that this would go well. Helga didn’t do so well with groups of people unless she was bossing them around.  
  
“So Nora and I were just discussing which kind of clubs we’re thinking of joining for after school programs and stuff,” Phoebe explained excitedly.  
  
“Pfftt, regular school ain’t enough for you gluttons for punishment, eh?” Helga remarked.  
  
Nishi was now looking around confused, tugging at Nora’s shoulder sleeve.  
  
“Psstt, Phoebe,” Nora leaned in, “remember we promised Nishi about the first day being in nihongo? Just to help her out today?”  
  
“Oh! Right, I forgot, um…” Phoebe thought for a second, as Helga looked between them.  
  
“That’s okay, I’ll just translate! Helga’s been working on her japanese too, right Helga?” Phoebe and the rest of the girls turned to look at her.  
  
_Crimidy Phoebe way to put me on the spot. Jeeze.  
_  
She knew Phoebe was just trying to brag about her and make her look good, but she also probably didn’t realize that Helga preferred to binge watch stand up comedy and trashy action movies all summer instead of study the beginners book to japanese that Phoebe had given her.  
  
Helga racked her brain for a word that would be appropriate for this situation. Something… ahhh.. What was that phrase for claiming she could do it. Daki or deki or something. Wait wait she knew this.  
  
“Ahhh.. itadakimasu!” She nervously sputtered out, giving a thumbs up.  
  
The girls stared at her for a second before they started giggling and Helga instantly knew she had gotten the phrase wrong.   
  
_Crap.  
_  
Nishi said something in Japanese to Nora, who nodded her head and began to shuffle her lunch box out of her backpack. The rest did the same.  
  
“I think you meant to shorten that?” Phoebe whispered to Helga, who just shrugged.  
  
“Yeah, sure. What did I say?”  
  
“Basically being thankful for the meal, so, close enough I suppose. They just thought you were sick of waiting to eat, hehe.”  
  
“...Right.”  
  
The four of them said a few more words in japanese as Helga sat there blinking patiently.  
  
Phoebe finally leaned over to explain that Nishi was mentioning how different this school looked than her last one, and how cool it was to see all the different outfits kids could wear. Then they went back to their native tongue, and Phoebe finally asked Helga if she had a lunch with her.  
  
“Would you like some of mine?” Phoebe asked, assuming Helga was lacking a lunch.  
  
Helga’s eyes snapped back between her best friend, the three other girls who were chatting happily, and her own backpack.   
  
There was a hesitation, before she finally just heavily shrugged and shook her head.  
  
“Naaa, Big Bob gave me some money so I’m gonna go blow it on some unhealthy stuff and go rate this school’s grub.” She stood up, throwing a thumb back towards the lunch line.  
  
The others were unsheathing some lovely looking bento boxes filled with handmade goodies, and Phoebe nodded at her.  
  
“Sure Helga, I’ll catch you up when you get back!” She reassured, and went back to Japanese mode as soon as Helga started walking away.  
  
Oh who was she kidding. She couldn’t keep up a conversation with those girls if she tried. The whole thing was awkward as hell, and she and Nora never really meshed well. Helga quickly realized that getting up to go visit the lunch line was her excuse to ditch.  
  
The worst part about it was that she didn’t even have enough money for lunch, because like an idiot, she’d given it to the charity case named-- and she stopped in line once she saw who was turning around with a tray of food.  
  
_Oh, speak of the devil._

 

* * *

 

As soon as Arnold pocketed the remainder of his cash and picked up his tray of food, he spun around and locked eyes with Helga, whom he didn't expect to see standing absently by herself in the middle of the lunch room.  
  
She blinked when she noticed him, surprised to see him as well.  
  
This seemed to be a trend today.  
  
You know what else seemed to be a trend?  
  
“Incoming!!”  
  
Before Arnold could even turn to see who shouted that, someone skidded into him and his tray of food went straight into the air.  
  
Arnold groaned, shook his head from where he was now on the ground, and looked up only to find that food tray was coming back down.  
  
Any student onlooker might have been fascinated to witness the new sequel to Cloudy with a chance of apple, milk carton, bread roll, and some sort of... meat in brown sauce that is brown and probably tastes brown. And a cookie.  
  
“Ahhh, I’m okay!” A familiar quote uttered out and Arnold noticed that he wasn't the only one covered in meat. Of course it was Eugene. Who else would it be.  
  
“Nobody panic! The rescue team is here!” Announced a short blonde, chubby cheeked boy as he made his way towards them with another boy with a very square head.   
  
Arnold recognized them. Oh yeah, Nate and Ned. How could he forget a pair like that?  
  
After shaking the meat from his hair, Arnold looked up to discover that Helga had pulled a Batman once again. Although this time, he was just hoping she’d have left before all the food had fallen on him. That would be preferred.  
  
“Sorry about that, Arnold.” Eugene was receiving a hand up from Ned as Nate offered a hand to Arnold. Upon grabbing Nate’s hand, Arnold waited for a couple of uncomfortable seconds as Nate stared at him through his thick glasses, before finally helping hoist him up. This was quite possibly the most awkward person Arnold had encountered in a long while.  
  
“Thanks. And it’s alright Eugene. What happened?” Arnold continued wiping the food off his shoulders. Awesome, he’d probably end up smelling like mystery meat for the rest of the day at this rate.  
  
Eugene bent down to pick up a discarded yellow peel from the floor.   
  
“Nothing beats the classics, am I right?” He smiled his obnoxiously resilient smile as Nate carefully retrieved the banana scrape from Eugene’s grip with a giant pair of pliers , slowly moving it into a plastic baggie.   
  
Arnold had no idea what that kid was doing and did not want to know.  
  
The boys helped Arnold collect the remnants of his lunch, and Eugene snapped his fingers delightfully with an ‘I have an idea’ sort of attitude.  
  
“This just won’t do. Come on Arnold, we’re gonna get you cleaned up and fed in no time!” Eugene pulled him along suddenly as Arnold tried to protest that it was fine.  
  
“Oh don’t be so modest! Nate keeps a sanitary pack on him at all times, and Ned always has an extra lunch packed for emergencies!”  
  
Ned smiled and nodded his head excitedly. “I hope you like empanadas and veggie chips!”  
  
“I’ve already collected eleven napkins for the occasion. Hand sanitizer will also be recommended.” Nate informed as they all walked over to an empty table.  
  
“Ahh- okay, I suppose.” Arnold gave in, hoping at the very least that they could remove the smell from his shirt. Eugene’s friends seemed perfect for each other. Perfect for him though? Not so much. Nate especially was creeping him out with his uncanny stare.  


* * *

  
  
Helga looked from afar at the table where Phoebe and her friends sat, her eyes glazed with uncertainty. None of them noticed her of course, which was good.  
  
“I’m sorry Pheebs…” Helga readjusted her backpack and turned to wander off.  
  
She felt like a jerk, but the pressure of Phoebe’s friends and that forcefulness was never something Helga was comfortable with.  
Her blunt, crass humor usually just confused girl cliques and she always ended up insulting someone anyway. They just weren’t her kind of people.  
  
Plus, even though this was a new school, Helga knew that her reputation would still linger in the eyes of those that knew her.  
  
Oh well… maybe she could find some cool nooks and crannies in this school that didn’t have security cameras onlooking the halls.  


* * *

  
  
“There.” Nate declared, spritzing some unknown sanitizing spray all over Arnold’s flannel shirt. It smelled like a hospital, but he thanked him anyhow.  
  
Arnold had passed his notebook around the table to get everyone’s names and numbers, and noticed that Ned had drawn little cat faces around his.   
  
Nate's contained parentheses with what looked like a binary code translation and the phone number for poison control “just in case”. Arnold decided not to ask about that one.  
  
Ned was already stuffing some kind of pastry into Arnold’s hand and Eugene was going on about school at this point.  
  
“Ohhhh I can’t wait to go to my French class! Did you hear the teacher got the school to agree to La Cage aux Folles for the first semester?”  
  
Arnold hesitantly took a bite of this pastry thing and was surprised to taste a spicy sort of beef filling. It was rather good.  
  
Nate just gasped dramatically, all attention on Eugene now.   
  
“NOOO.” He exclaimed.  
  
“It’s true!” Said Eugene.  
  
“What’s that?” Arnold asked with his mouth still slightly full. Nate offered him a napkin, but Arnold just sorta looked at him as he continued chewing, not really needing it. Nate kept the napkin offered, though.  
  
“It’s a beautiful musical!” Eugene answered, embellishing the ‘beautiful’ part.  
  
“Are you into theater at all, Arnold?” Ned asked excitedly.  
  
“Well, uh--”  
  
“Yeah! Arnold was great at them in elementary school! He even played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet! It was a grand performance!”  
  
Eugene went on, bragging about Arnold to his friends. Arnold didn’t really have the heart to say that he pretty much got dragged into all those roles and that it wasn't really his cup of tea.  
  
“Spectacular!” Ned said, and Arnold could have sworn there were stars in the boys eyes.   
  
“That’s a wicked hard role to play! So much violence and passion! I wonder if we could all sign up for La Cage? Do you think they’re looking for freshmans?” Ned looked to Eugene.  
  
“I sure am going to give it my best try!” Eugene’s voice was dripping with that old school chipper attitude and it was making Arnold nostalgic. “After all, we’ve practiced the songs several times before!”  
  
_Oh, no… Please don’t tell me--_  
  
“Life is, a celebration with you on, my arm!” Eugene sung out, sitting down next to Ned and grabbed his arm enthusiastically.

Ned uncharacteristically ripped it away. Arnold raised a brow at the scene, just chewing on the rest of the empanada as Eugene kept singing away.  
  
“It's worth, the aggravation--” He grabbed Ned’s hand back and smacked it with his own, “with you on my arrrrmm!” He suddenly stood up and walked over to the edge of the table.  
  
“Well you did always bounce back better--” Ned called to him.  
  
“That's because I'm more limber!” Eugene called back.  
  
“Yeah you always were.” Ned scoffed as he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.  
  
Suddenly, Eugene was hoisting himself onto the table and singing much louder as he spread his arms in a showy dance. Arnold did not think this was going to end well.  
  
“Each time, I face a morning that's BORING... and bland!” He pointed down towards Ned, “With you it looks good!”  
  
“I can’t dance.” Ned batted a hand towards him dismissively.  
  
“You can! With you it looks great!”  
  
“Do I have to?”  
  
“If you want me! With you it looks grand!!”  
  
Arnold couldn’t believe this was actually taking place. He looked around and noticed that nearly the entire lunchroom was observing the impromptu dance sequence as now both Ned and Eugene were doing a dance on top of the lunch table, Eugene twirling Ned around like a ballerina.   
  
He then heard a sudden horn playing and whipped his head to the left to see Nate sitting there, suddenly playing a trombone to the music they were singing to.  
  
Where on earth did that come from?  
  
[](https://sta.sh/02ghtlvn1335)  
  
At the sight of a teacher looking to be coming over, probably to stop the nonsense, Arnold began to slither backwards from the table, hoping to detach himself from association.  
  
He made sure to grab one more empanada before he did, though.  
  
The last thing he noticed as he turned a corner to get out of sight was Nate giving an expressionless standing ovation and Eugene and Ned posing dramatically.  
  
_Phew._  


* * *

  
  
Helga was probably halfway through the school before she realizing this building was too modernized to have any passageways that weren’t moderated in some way. Not like she was trying to sneak off and do something illegal. She just… hated knowing she was being watched. (Perhaps her young years monologging really set this paranoia in place, who knows)  
  
Just as this thought had past through her brain, however, she tilted her head at one very peculiar looking door that didn’t fit very well with the standard classroom doors. It had a rounded top, was slate gray and looked like it was definitely not supposed to be entered. (Probably because of the ‘do not enter’ signs engraved into the door)  
  
However, she noticed that the door was propped open by… was that a spork?  
  
“Tch, of course.”  
  
Everybody knows that putting a big red button in front of a curious teenager with a label “do not push” is a terrible idea, so Helga obviously grabbed the spork and pushed the door a bit to poke her head inside.  
  
She was met with something she did not expect to see in a school this shiny and new looking. It led to a staircase that, get this-- spiraled up like an old fancy pants mansion. The entire staircase was unlit aside from the light pouring in from some small windows a few stories up. This place looked straight out of a scene from some medieval fantasy. She had to check it out.  
  
Quietly creeping in and gently letting the door shut behind her, she took in her surroundings. It looked like there were stairs leading down as well. Some winding passageway into the dark depths of solid blackness that seemed about as welcoming as an old timey coot with a shotgun while you were on his lawn.  
  
“Yeah, nope.” She dismissed that voyage immediately.  
  
Right as she voiced her musing, the sound of a utensil or something dropping from the stairs above her clanged into her ears.   
  
She stiffened as the clanking slowly pitter-pattered as if it were falling down the spiral stairs. An item finally rolled out from the stairs and past her feet as she bent down to pick it up.  


* * *

  
  
Arnold was finally safe. He was out of the cafeteria, and more importantly, not associated with Eugene and co. Not that there was anything wrong with Eugene’s enthusiasm but-- oh who was he kidding, it often grated his nerves, even as a kid. And now there were two of them, plus one… well, whatever Nate was.  
  
Taking a big sigh, Arnold leaned against the stair rail he was hovering over. He took a second, before beginning to eat the empanada he brought with him.   
  
Ahh yes, silver linings.  
  
“Moderating food intake. It’s recommended to add variety to your meals to sustain a healthy brain! Nutritional Daily Values are as follows,” watch-mom chirped out, very loud in this empty, echoing stairwell.  
  
“Oh come on, let me just enjoy this.” Arnold argued as his watch listed off information.  
  
“Total Fat... 16 grams….Saturated fat 4.6 grams...Polyunsaturated fat…”  
  
“Okay seriously.” Arnold stuffed the rest of the pastry in his mouth, almost out of spite. Like a stubborn child who wouldn’t listen to his mom.  
  
“Did you hear something?” A voice came from above.  
  
“Crap, go see if it’s a teacher! I told you we need a lookout!”  
  
Arnold almost choked on his food when he could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. Oh jeeze, what now.  
  
“Hey! Arnooooold!” Sid poked his head out from the stairs above, and so did Stinky.   
  
“Phew, I thought it was a teacher.”  
  
They both noticed that Arnold was coughing and holding a hand to his mouth since he’d gotten surprised with a mouthful of food.   
  
Thanks, watch-mom.  
  
“Gee Arnold, ya look like you might need some CPU or somethin’.” Stinky observed lazily.  
  
“CPR… He’s not a computer, dude.” That was Piper, who also appeared to see Arnold holding up a finger to tell them to just ‘give him a sec’ as he concentrated on swallowing his food without choking.  
  
A hardy pat on his back was felt as he finally regained composure and looked up to see an old face he had not had a chance to interact with yet. Her wavy blonde hair tufts now pulled back into a ponytail, wearing a jacket enamoured with pins, many of which looked like bugs.  
  
“Nadine?”  
  
She smiled brightly at him, holding what looked like a fairly professional video camera in her arms. Arnold assumed it was professional, since most people just took videos with their phones these days.  
  
“Sorry these _rock stars_ startled you, but it’s good to see you! How come you’re not at lunch?” she asked, fiddling with her camera as she talked.  
  
“Ahhh-- it was a little, loud in there.” Arnold went with.  
  
“Haha yeah I bet you’re still used to the soothing sounds of mother nature around you as a soundtrack, huh? Man you’re so lucky. I would give me left arm to spend a year in San Lorenzo! I remember all those amazing insects while we were all there..”   
  
Nadine swooned at the thought of her trip, zooming in and out of Arnold’s face to test her camera.  
  
“Hey Nadine! You ready?” Sid called, and when Arnold looked up at the stairs, he could not help but vocally utter out an “oh no.” when he saw Sid had placed a skateboard on the railing, ready to ride down it.  
  
“Yep, just let me line up the shot.” She replied, backing up and kneeling down to angle the camera up at him in a dynamic angle.  
  
Arnold looked up to see Piper and Stinky holding their phones at different positions as well.  
  
“Um, Sid, I really shouldn't even have to say this isn't the best idea, but--”  
  
“You know, you’re absolutely right Arnold!” Sid said, one leg up on his skateboard now.  
  
“I am?” Arnold said.  
  
“Yeah, you should go over there and keep watch, make sure no one is coming!” He pointed to the doors that led to the cafeteria.  
  
Arnold just sighed.  
  
“Don’t bother fighting the idiocy. He hasn’t broken a bone yet so he still thinks he’s invincible.” Piper commented to Arnold, looking at her phone, ready to record.  
  
“Right..” Arnold strolled over towards the doors, half of him wanting to just walk out, and the other half was, well, morbidly curious to see if Sid’s invincibility streak would stay intact. And hopefully Sid’s body as well. That would be good.  
  
“Alright, somebody give me a drumroll!” Sid announced.  
  
“Just go.” Piper said.  
  
“I’m gonna start charging you per second if you don’t hurry!” Nadine nagged as well.  
  
“Do ya want me to do a drum roll instead of filming? Cause I can’t do both.” Stinky pointed out, and Sid finally gave in.   
  
“Okay okay okay, ready steady here I go!”  
  
Arnold winced as he watched Sid careening down the railing, balancing enough to gain some decent speed. Maybe too much speed. How was he going to stop?  
  
Before he could see the end result, the door he was pressed against opened against him and he fell backwards towards the opening as a group of people made their way through.  
  
He couldn't see what happened exactly, but he heard a rushing sound, a very loud “OW”, and Stinky’s famously in awe line at the end results.  
  
“Willikers…”  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: I have the entire ending of this fic written out and I'm so excited to get to it. There's just so much "meat" in the middle that is difficult to get through because of all the new characters and interconnections. It's a lot of planning so it takes time. I promise I work on a little every day, but I'm slow. WAHH. 
> 
> Big thanks to my friend Champa and some other buddies on the HA Discord server for helping me come up with the perfect play/musical for Eugene to spontaneously sing to.  
> I don't know shit about plays or musicals so I'd be lost otherwise, haha. It's based on this if you're really curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6OYkO57_lE
> 
> not 1, but 2 cliffhangers??  
> Yes I am aware that I am an awful human being.  
> But this chapter is extra long so, shut up. 
> 
> P.S.-- Didn't have time to proofread this 18362786 times before posting so please let me know if you spot grammar/spelling/formatting issues.


	11. Roll of the Dice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helga finds herself in an inescapable predicament, while Arnold continues to get dragged from friend circle to friend circle.  
> How is lunch period this long??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long. I was an idiot and worked 3 hours on a stupid image that my computer bluescreened on.  
> I proceeded to slam my head on the desk questioning my life.  
> Anyways, it's here now.  
> Huge thank you to soliloquysfromintermission for proof reading this and finding all my wrong shit! <3

Helga bent down to examine the item that had tittered down the creepy stairs, holding it up to the light to see what it was. 

  
A D20 die with some funky blue and purple glitter fused into it.  
  
  
  
She craned her head to look up the spiral staircase, playing with the small die in her fingers.  
  
“Someone up there? You dropped your nerd dice.” Helga called upwards.  
  
There was a significant pause before a voice finally responded, probably deducing she wasn’t a teacher.  
  
“What number did it land on?”  
Hegla curved her brow at the oddly familiar voice. What the hell kind of question was that?  
“Um… 3.” She answered, deciding to climb the stairs and see for herself who was up there.  
  
“Darn it. I definitely failed my initiative check.” The owner of the voice soon shrieked upon seeing Helga as she ascended the stairs to face him.  
  
“Ahh, radish head. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Helga tossed the D20 to him, which he caught clumsily.  
“I think it’s that black eye. You reminded me of a demon from a game I played last night.”  
“Wow. Thanks.” Helga rolled her eyes.  
  
Lenny appeared to be seated in the middle of the staircase with a lunch tray piled with food on his lap. He was completely distracted with his die to apologize for the rude comment.  
  
“Thanks, this is a limited edition D20 they only gave out to 20 people at the local geekcon a few years ago! I was scared a teacher was about to confiscate it!”  
  
Oh joy, a super nerd.  
  
Oh well, this guy was harmless enough. Helga just sighed and took a seat on one of the steps below him, reaching back to snatch a bread roll from his plate and taking a bite out of it.  
“Oh, hi. You’re welcome to the tray, don’t mind if you do madam.”  
“I’m starving, and you owe me.” Helga said, mouth full as she practically inhaled the bread.  
  
Lenny just blinked wildly at her as she turned around to snatch his orange, to which he objected and received a death stare from Helga for it.  
“Just, take the apple instead, please? I need the vitamin C so I don’t get scurvy. And you just ate my bread.”  
  
Helga took the apple instead, giving him a very deadpanned look. “Scurvy…”  
“My dad was half pirate, so, yep.” He nodded, already peeling his orange and looking way too proud of himself.  
“Wow, you’re just a regular wisecracker.” Helga just shook her head.  
“One of those words is correct.” He finger gunned in remarks to the joke, and Helga just looked at him funny.  
  
“...The wise part. You know? Not the cr--”  
“What are you doing in this creepy-ass stairwell anyways?” Helga interrupted.  
  
  
  
“Oh! Well as you may have noticed, I tend to attract bullies like a magnet. Luckily, my older sister went here and told me about this hideout! I figured It’d be a good lunchtime sanctuary.”  
  
“That’s… both comforting and depressing.” Helga shook her head, starting to feel bad for this joker. “What the heck did you do to piss Wolfgang off so bad anyways?”  
  
Helga was not expecting to see a big toothy grin appear on this gangly boy’s face.  
“Wanna see?” He asked, not waiting for an answer as he pulled a small DSLR camera from his backpack, poking through the viewfinder to find a specific photo. Helga watched, intrigued as he turned the camera for her to see, and upon seeing it, she nearly toppled down the stairs in a laughing fit.  
  
Lenny was laughing alongside her, and she pulled the camera into her own hands to get a better look.  
  
There was Wolfgang, standing with his back towards the camera, flexing an arm out to the side as his head turned sideways…. Kissing it.  
  
“HAHH-Wooow this is absolutely gold. It’s a cartoon. He’s like a cartoon character, look at his expression! Wolfgang is a literal walking stereotype, I can’t even--” And Helga started laughing again.  
  
Lenny took the camera back and snickered. “I bet this is a lot funnier to you since you seem to know him.” he chuckled, watching Helga wipe a tear from her eye as she tried to get composure. “But I couldn’t help myself but snap a picture. Too bad I forgot to turn the shutter sound to silent…”  
  
“Ahhh so that’s why you’re in deep shit.” Helga nodded casually, “and here I thought he was just trying to shuffle some lunch money out of you.”  
   
“It was too good of a shot! How could I have not taken a photo? These are the important questions here.”  
  
“Hey you’re the one diggin’ your own grave, radish head.” Helga shrugged, turning back around to eyeball his food tray again.  
“You gonna eat those mashed potatoes?”  
  
Lenny just sighed, still thinking about how ‘dead-meat’ he was if Wolfgang found him before the day was out. “Permission granted.”  
“Sweet,” Helga pulled the plastic off the spork in her hand and dug in.  
  
“You just happened to have silverware on you too. It’s like you somehow planned this.” Lenny observed, plopping an orange segment into his mouth.  
Helga shrugged while she practically guzzled the mediocre potatoes. “I found this wedged in the door actually, lucky me.”  
  
Lenny’s eyes bulged open. “You took that out from the door?”  
“...Yeah?”  
“Oh snap…”

* * *

  
  
Arnold was trying to comprehend what was going on from his position of being flat on his back, his ears were filled with a sound of some sort of impact and a loud, “OOF!”  
  
Before he could even try to figure out if Sid was in pieces or not, he was getting a hand up from a strong force.  
  
“Never took you for the daredevil skater type.”  
  
Arnold looked up to see the large form of Patty Smith, helping him up off the ground with an amused smile.  
  
“Oh I’m not really I just-“  
“I’m joking. I know you’re not.” She said dryly, soon interrupted by the squabbling nearby.  
  
“Boy howdy that was a close one eh?”  
“Willekers… you almost dang near had yourself a mighty concussion! It’s a good thing Harold appeared like a ninja to catch you, Sid.”  
“Thanks for the recap of literally 3 seconds ago, Stinky.” Piper said sarcastically.  
  
Harold was cradling Sid awkwardly in his arms right then, having caught him right out of the air as he went flying towards him. Harold did not look very amused by the situation, and dropped Sid flat on the ground soon after.  
  
Arnold noticed that Harold had been accompanied by Patty and Chase, who all had pushed open the doors that Arnold had been leaning against.  
Piper, Stinky and Nadine were all jogging over now, phones in hand.  
  
“Did you get it? Huh? Does it look good?” Sid was scrambling up to Nadine and her camera.  
  
“Hey! How about a THANK YOU for SAVING your life!” Harold grabbed Sid by the shirt and pulled him over just for good measure.  
Patty patted Harold on the shoulder to give him a gentle reminder about temper.  
  
“Oh right, thanks Harold! What would I possibly do without ya?” Sid smiled innocently.  
“Drink your meals through a straw until you graduate?” Piper suggested.  
Stinky chuckled as Harold finally released him.  
  
“That was a pretty nice catch, Harold!” Nadine said as she played around with her camera.  
Harold nodded a thanks as Patty elbowed him in a friendly manner.  
  
“See? I told you tennis would increase your reaction time.”  
“Wha- you really think so?” Harold asked in surprise. Patty was nodding and giving him the thumbs up.  
  
Sid was elbowing Stinky as well, making exaggerated gestures that were obviously meant to poke fun at Harold’s reaction to Patty.  
Harold all but growled at Sid in reaction.  
  
Arnold stepped up towards the crowd and chirped up to get everyone’s attention. “Hey, guys?”  
  
The two parties all turned to look at Arnold, and he suddenly felt very strange to have all the attention on him.  
  
“Since you’re all here, and I don’t have a phone yet… would you mind?” He held out his notebook and pen, hoping this wasn’t a bad time.

* * *

  
  
“What do you MEAN it locks from the inside?!” Helga screamed at Lenny as she stomped her way down the crickety spiral staircase.  
  
“That’s why I had the spork wedged in the door to prop it open!” Lenny explained, shuffling down the stairs quickly to reach the big metal door. He looked devastated to find it latched shut now.  
He pulled at the handle anyway, Helga appearing behind him with a frown.  
  
“Oh move over already, your scrawny arms aren’t gonna make it budge.” She shoved him aside, yanking on the door herself. It didn’t even jiggle from the frame.  
  
“It’s a solid one. Built in the 1960’s I’d say.” Lenny knocked on it for good measure.  
Helga stopped tugging on the door to give him a look.  
“I thought this whole school was brand new!”  
  
“Most of it is. Expanded on at least. Some of the old parts, such as this creepy Adams family stairwell, still exist, but the faculty has them sealed off since they’re considered dangerous to students.”  
  
Helga just gave him a deadpan look.  
“And here you are just camping out and eating your mashed potatoes in it. Seems smart.”  
  
“Well technically, you ate the mashed potatoes.”  
“Lenny!”  
“Okay okay! Don’t worry Ms. Iron Fists, I always come with a plan B!”  
  
Lenny shuffled around his jacket for a moment while Helga just crossed her arms and waited to see what trick he was going to pull out next.  
  
“Nothing in my sleeves… Ah-hah!” He pulled out a metal ring with what looked like a hundred different keys hanging from it.  
There were more keys on that ring then Helga head probably seen in her lifetime. What in the holy heck.  
  
“Crimedy, ya got more keys on that thing than the evil stepmom from Cinderella. Is this your secret identity after all?”  
  
Lenny just laughed, poking through a few keys.  
“Remember that sister I mentioned?”  
  
“Ahhhh. So does this make you Cinderella?”  
“Depends,” Lenny mused, “do I get to go home with a dashing Prince?”  
  
Helga just curved a brow at him. Lenny seemed unaffected by her glare.  
“...These are the important questions!”  
“ just open the door already!” Helga blurted out, growing impatient.  
  
Waving his hands in defense, Lenny looked at his key ring for a moment.  
“Well the good news is, my sister stole each key over time and tested them all out to make sure no locks were changed. So the key to this door should be here!”  
  
“What’s the bad news?”  
“Hey I never said there was bad news!”  
“There’s always bad news.” Helga said cynically.  
  
Lenny stared at his key ring for another few good seconds before deciding, “Okay maybe there’s bad news.”  
  
Sighing, Helga asked, “So what is it?”  
Lenny looked at her with a slanted smile. “The keys aren’t labeled.”  
”...Oh.”

* * *

  
  
With enough persistence, Arnold managed to collect the numbers of everyone in the room. Even Piper and Chase didn’t mind writing theirs down.  
  
Piper had said something about “just in case Sid breaks his phone again and gets stranded in the middle of nowhere or something.”  
  
Arnold had also gotten a high-five from Stinky, who didn’t have a cell phone either, preferring to stay as old fashioned as possible. It was no wonder Sid had complained at him when he rolled back the video footage on his own phone he had lent to Stinky to record with.  
It turned out that Stinky had pressed record when he had meant to stop recording, essentially missing the entire stunt. (Stinky was clearly even less tech savvy than Arnold.)  
  
Sid was even more annoyed when Nadine tried to charge him for her own footage, claiming that “demand just went up”.  
She was joking of course, but Sid was still prone to flipping out over nothing.  
  
Once the notebook was successfully passed to each individual, Patty threatened for Sid and co. to scram before a teacher saw them with a skateboard and confiscated it.  
  
“You got it ma’am, noooo problem at all, we’ve learned our lesson here- please don’t hurt me!” Sid spat out at a hundred miles per hour as he backed away dramatically.  
  
“Speak your yourself.” Nadine muttered, removing a lense from her camera.  
  
“And don’t call my girlfriend BIG again or I’ll come after ya!” Harold shook his fist in Sid and Stinky’s direction as they ran up the stairs, Piper and Nadine following lazily as they laughed to each other.  
  
Patty just rolled her eyes as she patted Harold on the shoulder, stopping him from the violent fist waving.  
  
Arnold looked up at them with a curious expression after hearing Harold yelling about. He then looked over towards Chase, who hadn’t said a word this entire time. Arnold didn’t think he’d heard him speak one time since he’d met him, actually. The strong silent type, maybe?  
  
Chase’s eyes looked towards Arnold, and the burly boy peered at him with dagger-like eyes. Arnold smiled innocently, quickly looking away in fear. He had no idea what he’d done, but Arnold was sure that Rhonda’s boyfriend did not like him one bit.  
  
“Hey Arnold, we’re going to check out the gym, you wanna come with?” Harold asked, almost excitedly, like a little kid asking if their idol could sign them an autograph. It made Arnold smile a bit. (Even with Chase staring him down)  
  
“Harold, I don’t think Arnold is going to be interested in that sort of thing-”  
“Sure guys, it’ll be nice to catch up.” Arnold agreed, looking to Patty, who looked a bit surprised at first before smiling back at him.  
  
As they walked along the hallway to to gym, Harold nudged Chase and showed him his phone, apparently bragging about a new score on some app game they were competing with. Chase showed his own phone with a smug smile, and Harold’s confidence was quickly shredded. They both seemed to play the game of ‘show and react’, so Arnold decided to walk next to Patty.  
  
“It’s great to see you and Harold getting along so well these days.” He stated.  
  
Patty kept her eyes ahead of her, but there was an amused tone in her usual monotone voice as she responded. “Yeah. He’s a good guy. We have some rocky moments, but he’s getting really good at being open minded.”  
“Yeah,” Arnold mused, somehow a bit distracted at the thought. Patty noticed this, but decided not to mention it.  
  
“How did you guys become friends with Chase?” Arnold asked, and could swear he felt like the aforementioned bodybuilder behind him was already glaring at Arnold for the mere mention.  
  
“We we’re all on the same wrestling team last year. Chase helped Harold with his balance and stamina when he was having trouble. We made a few other friends that way, but they all went to different schools. Us three are what’s left of the dream team.” She quoted ‘dream team’ with finger quotes.  
  
“Heh nice. I hope you guys make more friends at this school too.”  
  
“Whoooaaaaa look how big it is!” Harold was suddenly running past them and pressing his big fat face against the glass window leading into the gym. Chase joined him and opened the door to walk inside.  
  
Harold wasn’t the only one who was impressed. Arnold looked up at the high ceilings and admired how shiny the floors were. The auditorium was currently set up with benches, like there’d be a presentation soon.  
  
“Ooo! I think that’s the way to the pool over there!” Harold pointed out, and started running towards it.  
Chase followed, but looked more interested in the equipment laid out on the mats nearby.  
  
“Speaking of friends,” Patty continued finally, “Have you caught up with everyone from the old gang yet?”  
“Well,” Arnold scratched his cheek in wonder, “Almost everyone, but it’s only been one day so far.”  
  
Arnold would be lying to himself if he wasn’t thinking of one person in particular.  
As if reading his mind, Patty suddenly asked, “Have you spoken to Helga yet?”  
  
“Helga?” Arnold looked back at Patty with a surprised expression, although he didn’t mean to. “Ahh, no, not yet…” He replied honestly, feeling a weight of pressure from Patty’s serious stare. She was still kind of scary to be around, but not because of fear of getting beat up. She had a sort of all-knowingness you could almost feel as she peered at you. Despite this though, Arnold’s curiosity was stronger even so.  
  
“Patty, you don’t know what happened between her and that Vicki girl, do you?” Arnold boldly asked.  
  
Patty raised her eyebrows a bit at him, contemplating something, before she looked back towards Chase who was currently lifting up a dumbell.  
  
“Yeah, I know. But I think you should talk to her about it.” She said.  
  
Arnold felt pretty stupid. Of course he should. He shouldn’t hear it from anyone else but her.  
“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” He apologized as Patty turned back to face him, although she was staring past him instead.  
  
“Arnold, do yourself a favor and don’t get sucked into too much gossip. Avoid it if you can.”  
  
Before Arnold could answer, he soon realized what Patty was looking at.  
  
“THERE you are!”  
  
He turned around to see Rhonda walking briskly into the gym, followed by her friends from last night, the irony of his last conversation hitting him hard.  
  
“Hey babe!” Called Chase.  
Sweet summer sausage the boy did actually talk. Figure that.  
  
“Chase, I’ve been looking everywhere for you! We were supposed to eat together!” Rhonda expressed, approaching the group as Harold was making his way back.  
  
“Oh… That was today?” Chase asked.  
“We spoke about it last night! Oh Chase…” Rhonda sighed.  
  
“Hi there Arnold!” Vicki waved towards him as her and Camille approached them all, “Did you have a good lunch so far?”  
“Yeah it’s been pretty, eventful.” Arnold half smiled towards her.  
  
“Lunch is definitely my favorite class.” Giggled Camille as she commented mindlessly.  
  
Arnold smiled awkwardly, looking towards Rhonda as she was suddenly planting a kiss on her boyfriend’s lips and pulling him along. Arnold felt embarrassed having seen this, so he turned around to face the other two girls again.  
  
“I talked to our history teacher about your green eyes tribe today!” Vicki blurted out, regaining Arnold’s full attention.  
“She said she’d be really interested to hear about your trip there! Might even give you extra credit if she decides to do a project on it.” Vicki smiled sweetly, rocking a bit in place nervously as she spoke, her skirt dancing with her movements.  
  
“That’s really great! Thank you, I’ll have to talk to her soon about it.” Arnold responded. It was only fair to be polite after doing such a favor.  
  
“Okay, we’re going to peruse the courtyard now.” Rhonda announced, leading Chase over with her to the group of students standing here trying to converse awkwardly.  
  
“Of course, you’re welcome to join us… Arnold, Patty… Harold.” her eyes narrowed a bit at the end, and Harold’s did as well.  
  
Arnold suddenly felt like someone had planted a grenade in front of him and he desperately needed to sprint out of this room as soon as possible like his life depended on it. But he didn’t, because that would’ve been really weird and rude.  
  
“No thanks, Rhonda.” Oh thank god for Patty cutting in, ”We’re going to stay here and check out all the equipment.”  
  
And before any more words could be said, Patty was steering Harold away from the crowd and further into the gym. Arnold could’ve sworn Patty had given him a look as she turned.  
  
Chase looked very wistful at the idea of ‘checking out the equipment’, but alas, he was a good boyfriend. Arnold almost felt bad for the big guy when he saw his forlorn expression. Almost.  
  
“Are you coming with us, Arnold?” Vicki asked shyly.  
“Uhh, actually I should probably-”  
  
“Of COURSE he’s coming. He hasn’t seen the amazing courtyard yet, have you Arnold?” Rhonda answered for him, stringing an arm around his to lead him along. Arnold’s first thought was ‘is Chase growling like a bulldog yet?’  
  
“Well no I haven’t,” he began, and that was all Rhonda needed to pull him along.  
“Then what are we doing dawdling around here in this smelly old gym?”  
  
Arnold noticed Chase curiously sniffing the room to see if it actually smelled.  
  
Before he could resist, he was soon whisked away by the squad of fashionistas and wondering if this day would ever end.

* * *

  
  
“Nope…”  
“What about now?”  
“Nada.”  
“Third time's the charm?”  
“This is like the fifteenth key.” Lenny said, twisting it around in the lock to see if it budged at all.  
“...fifteenth times the charm then!”  
  
Helga sat on the end of the stairs leading down to the lower level, groaning as Lenny went through his massive key ring. She was expecting the bell to ring at any minute now.  
Maybe she’d be trapped in this creepy dungeon-like stairwell for the end of time with Mr. Epic Geek Boy, destined to listen to nerdisms until she starved to death or clawed out her own eyeballs. Whichever came first, really.  
  
She let out a big impatient groan and laid back on the flat surface of the floor, accepting her fate for now.  
  
“Older sister, huh?” she mused.  
“Yep. She graduated last year. And by graduated I mean dropped out.”  
“Ouch. Sounds like a real rebel.”  
  
“I was really mad at her because she was supposed to be in school this year to help show me the ropes, but then she got in a fight with mom, started dating a 24-year-old from Canada, and stole a car to travel to New York before she ran out of money and came back.”  
  
“Scratch rebel. I spy a total black sheep of the family.”  
“Hah,” Lenny half-heartedly chorted, “I don’t blame her though. My family’s kind of a zoo.”  
  
Helga found herself sitting up, a bit fascinated now. “What could be worse than the crazy sister?”  
“Try five sisters.”  
  
Helga’s eyes widened a bit. “Whoa. And I thought just one was bad.”  
  
Lenny had apparently gotten his current key stuck in the door and was jiggling it around furiously. “You have a sister?”  
“Yeah, older. Way older. She doesn’t live at home though.”  
“Lucky you.” Lenny was straining now, trying to get the key out.  
  
“Yeah, lucky me…” Helga said, wondering where Olga was at this current point in time. She never really did bother to pay attention, even though Olga posted regularly on social media. Helga specifically made a point to unfollow her obnoxious posts about fancy foods and selfies in front of famous monuments.  
  
Her wandering mind halted at the sight of Lenny’s prolonged struggle, and she got impatient as she stood up and stomped over to him.  
  
“If you break the key off in that keyhole and leave us stranded in here I will not hesitate to become a cannibal in order to survive so help me!”  
“Settle down there Ms. Lector, I got this!” Lenny waved off her threat.  
  
But Helga wasn’t buying it, and shoved him out of the way to take over. “Oh let me have at it already!” She demanded against Lenny’s protesting.  
  
There was no way she was staying here another moment to talk about sisters with nerd brain. She wanted out now, even if she had to start kicking down the damn door!

* * *

  
  
“So that’s why London and Zander broke up, I mean, can you believe her parents?”  
“That’s terrible!” Camille chirped out, “My parents would never do that.”  
  
“I don’t know, Cam, even if they found out your boyfriend was a total pothead?”  
Rhonda and Camille gasped at Vicki’s statement, turning to her for more.  
  
“No. Way. Spill.” Rhonda demanded.  
“Well, don’t go spreading this around, but…”  
  
Arnold rolled his eyes from in back. Like that was going to happen, he thought.  
  
“Dad says there were police records of his family getting fined for having marijuana in their car.” She said in almost a whisper, and Rhonda and Camille made their own “oooo” sounds.  
   
“Uhhh, isn’t that legal… here?” Arnold chimed in, immediately regretting it. Immediately. Oh my god why did he feel the need to say anything.  
  
“Good point, Arnold!” Vicki smiled at him, and for a second Arnold actually felt smart and knowledgeable about his hometown for once.  
“But that was a couple years ago before it was legalized recreationally. And they didn’t have any proof for using it medically. ALSO, Zander is a minor anyways. So yeah. They got in trouble.”  
  
“Oh.” And his ‘I finally feel smart and knowledgeable’ feeling was gone.  
  
“Zander has a lot of issues anyway.” Chase chimed in, surprising Arnold, “London is better off.”  
“I KNOW right? That’s what I’ve been saying, but does anyone listen?” Rhonda huffed.  
“..I listen.” Chase squeaked out, but no one seemed to hear him.  
  
“Ooo, what’cha got there Arnold?” Camille was poking at the notebook in his hands.  
“Huh? This notebook?” Arnold held it up and Camille and Vicki both looked intrigued.  
  
“Oh my god it has such retro a 90’s vibe, I love it!” Vicki complimented him.  
“Is it full of secrets?” Camille giggled.  
“Oh Cammy, Arnold would not be carrying around a diary to highschool.” Rhonda dismissed.  
  
“It’s just a phone number book.” Arnold explained.  
“Whoa, so 90’s. He even keeps his contacts list in retro form!” Vicki said.  
  
  
“Arnold you poor, tormented soul. You don’t have a cellphone?” Rhonda asked, plucking the notebook from his hands and flipping it open to an empty page.  
Man, teenage Rhonda really had sticky fingers these days. But before he could protest, Rhonda was already clicking a purple gel pen and beginning to write her name down in it.  
  
“Don’t worry. Here’s my number. You give me a call when you get home and I’ll help you pick out a proper model. Do NOT get the knock off brands, they are total garbage.” She explained.  
  
“Ahh, thanks Rhonda.” Arnold said.  
“Oh good you already have Chase’s number. Although it won’t matter much. We’re practically glued to the hip.” She smiled back at Chase, who looked proud at that statement and smiled back. Weird.  
  
“You’ll want Vicki’s number as well,” She said, handing it off to Vicki, “She’ll keep you up to date on all the important laws before they even go into effect. She’s awesome like that.”  
“Oh I don’t think-” Vicki modestly combatted, but Rhonda shushed her and continued bragging about her usefulness.  
  
So before he’d knew it, Arnold now had 3 more numbers he definitely did not ask for.  
  
Oh well.  
It’s not like he’d have to call them, and at least they didn’t have his number.    
  
Were they almost to this supposed ‘courtyard’ yet? It seemed like they’d crossed the entire length of the school by now and this hallway looked a lot more barren than the others. A lot less modern.  
  
 “By the way, I never did properly get to apologize about last night.” Rhonda began, and Arnold was never so hesitant to hear an apology before.  
  
“It’s not a big deal,” He tried to dismiss it, but Rhonda wasn’t letting it go so easily.  
“It IS a big deal. I shouldn’t have brought Vicki with me. It’s my fault.” She admitted, and Arnold was taken aback by that.  
  
“You see, her and Helga don’t have, the best history. But I SWEAR I heard from a very reliable source that she was not going to be there, so I thought it would be fine.”  
“I swear I didn’t mean to cause any confrontation.” Vicki chimed in.  
  
Well now Arnold’s curiosity was getting the better of him, despite Patty’s warning.  
“Why wouldn’t she want to… come?” Arnold forced out.  
  
“Oh Arnold I’m sure it has nothing to do with you,” she put a hand on his shoulder as they walked, “She always avoids gatherings of people, especially from the old gang.”  
  
Arnold’s face contorted into an expression of confliction and concern. This was heartbreaking news. Helga was always the center of attention and thrived on being the leader of their friend group. To hear that she now avoided them… Where did that confidence go?  
  
He knew he was going to regret this, but again, that insatiable curiosity.  
“..Why?”  
  
All four were now looking back at Arnold as Rhonda made an uncomfortable look, as if she was figuring out how to put things delicately.  
  
“Well, Arnold, this may be a bit hard to believe for you, but…”  
  
Rhonda’s explanation was cut off when the group stopped at the sound of banging on the other side of the door they were standing in front of. A door that did not look like it belonged in that shiny modern building at all. What on earth? It sounded like someone was yelling profanities as they kicked the hell out of it.  
  
Arnold’s eyes immediately dilated at the recognition of the voice, but the door was suddenly flying open off it’s old, crackling hinges and barreling hard into a body as it flung open, knocking them over with a harsh crack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I heart cliffhangers! 8)
> 
> Any guesses to who Helga slammed the door into??  
> (I'm seriously curious because I haven't decided myself yet, oops)


	12. Interventions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When past drama gets dug back up, good friends know when it's time to intervene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The best part about me posting this is that I can now reward myself with reading soliloquysfromintermission's "Reconnecting" now, bwahahaha!   
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/12910554/chapters/29496075 <\--If you haven't read it then wtf get out of my face.

The fact that Helga had somehow kicked the ancient door in just the right way as she twisted the key in its lock was not the most shocking part of this instance. Nor was the fact that the door had apparently slammed into somebody as it flew open. NOR was it the fact that the motion made her stumble out, and crash into someone else, sending them flying to the ground as well. (Double points?)  
  
No, the most shocking part of this very instant was that she was now on top of, cheek to cheek with a very dazed looking Arnold.   
  
Seriously. If destiny really was insistent on pulling these two together, it could suck on a hundred lemons for its sour sense of humor.  
  
“Ughh-ow.”  
Arnold’s eyes narrowed in on another set of eyes that were so close in his vision he could see nothing else, and the two did an awkward stare at one another before Helga pushed herself up so fast from the floor you’d think the ground was made of lava.   
  
As she stumbled up, leaving Arnold to shake his head and collect himself, Helga quickly glanced around to take in her surroundings, frantically sputtering out a, “What are you all doing here?”  
  
Dumb question, but it was all her frazzled brain could come up with in the heat of the moment.   
  
“Um. What were YOU doing in there?” Came the accusing, confused tone of Vicki as she pointed to the big ‘Do Not Enter’ door.  
  
Well shit. Rhonda and Co. Perfect. And Arnold!? What was he doing with them? Should she help him up?   
Somehow the appearance of her favorite pack of people did not allow her to move a muscle.   
  
Most importantly, why did the universe hate her?  
  
Lenny had tentatively poked his pointy head from the door to peek at what was happening, when a groan was heard and a loud shriek from Rhonda interrupted everyone’s thoughts.   
  
“CHASE! Oh my god, Chase are you okay?” She was hovering over her boyfriend with frantic arms, moving all over as if unsure how to help him as he laid groaning on his back, rubbing his arm.  
  
Rhonda and Camille pulled him into an upright sitting position. Vicki took the opportunity to offer Arnold a hand up, to Helga’s seething dismay. It took everything in her being not to rip Vicki’s arm off at the thought of her holding his hand  
  
“Helga! What were you thinking! You might have given Chase a concussion!” Rhonda scolded, rubbing her boyfriend’s back with concern.  
  
“I’m okay babe.” Chase finally said, “That was quite a kick.” and he actually sounded impressed if anything. Helga’s eyebrows raised slightly at the tone.  
  
“NOT okay! That was NOT okay Helga! Ughh!” Rhonda was on 100% defensive girlfriend rant, and poised at her like an enraged bear.   
  
“Ahhh chill out Princess, he’s fine. Think of it as practice for the big game.” Helga quipped, and to her surprise, heard light chuckles from both Lenny and Arnold.   
  
Rhonda just glared now, completely fed up. And here she was trying to defend Helga just moments ago! Honestly.   
  
“Maybe if you didn’t react to every situation with aggression, you wouldn’t have to make excuses all the time for hurting everyone around you!”   
  
Yikes. That was the feeling that everyone else awkwardly felt as Rhonda bit into Helga with such brutality. Arnold felt like he should say something, but all this was happening so fast and he didn’t have a chance to think. But when he worriedly looked towards Helga, he saw a shaking girl who looked like she was on the verge of exploding.   
  
Helga was already formulating a good set of venomous words to scream back at Rhonda when she hesitantly glanced off to the side and saw Arnold, staring at her again with that look. That scared, shocked expression. The same one from last night. As if he didn’t even know who she was anymore. And that was enough to drain all her fight from her body and transfer it to flight.   
  
As Helga turned around and sprinted away down the hall, Rhonda relaxed in place, and the entire group just stood awkwardly for a second to take it all in.   
  
“Hrph. Typical.” Rhonda crossed her arms, leaving the rest of the group not knowing what to say.   
  
The thing that ended up disturbing the quiet tension was a shuffling that came from the door. Everyone turned to see Lenny awkwardly trying to pull his crazy set of keys from the inside lock with an obnoxious jangle and a loud “THUNK” as they popped out, causing him to stumble backwards once the door boomed shut.   
  
[](https://sta.sh/0taz9svpdu4)  
  
He looked at them all nervously as he sheathed the keyring back into his sleeve, giving a cheeky smile and edging sideways in the most awkward display ever.  
  
“Heh. Sup. It’s a… nice day, huh? I’m gonna…” He pointed down the hall towards where Helga was headed. “Uhh, yep!” And then darted off.   
  
“Who the heck was the shrimpy dude?” Vicki finally broke the tension.  
“And what were they _doing_ in there?” Camille giggled with Vicki.   
  
“Honestly, I don’t care! I’m just glad she’s gone.” Rhonda scoffed, helping Chase stand up. (By helping, she merely patted his back a couple times as he heaved himself off the floor)   
  
Arnold had finally snapped himself out of all this as he watched Lenny skitter down the hallway, and he suddenly found himself moving in that direction to catch them.   
“Hey, wait up!” he called. Not this time. This time, he was going to get this all settled. No way he was missing her again today.   
  
But then he felt a hand grab his arm as he took off, jerking him back as he tried to move.   
  
“Arnold, don’t. You’ll only make it worse.” Rhonda warned him, but Arnold just looked at her with annoyed confusion.   
  
“Rhonda, please let go.”   
  
“You don’t know about all the terrible things she’s done since you left. It would help to have a little briefing before you jump into that fire you know!” She went on, and Arnold’s brow furrowed even more.   
  
“Yeah you don’t know.” Camille chimed in.   
  
“It’s really too bad….” Voiced Vicki.   
  
“I’m seriously fine you guys…” Chase quietly said, but nobody was listening to Chase.   
  
Okay, that was it.   
  
“Look, I’d appreciate it if you could stop talking about Helga behind her back for more than a few minutes.” he shrugged out of Rhonda’s grip with a quick jerk of his arm.  
  
“If I’m gonna find out how ‘terrible’ she is then I might as well hear it from her, alright?”   
  
And with that uncharacteristically sharp response, Arnold turned around to try and catch up with Helga, leaving Rhonda a bit astonished as he went.   
  


* * *

  
_  
That’s it! No more! First day of high school officially canceled._  
  
Helga had made up her mind. The scolding from her parents would be tolerable compared to this nightmarish day so far. It just wasn’t worth the anxiety.   
  
That look. That heartbreaking, sad, disappointed look.   
She just couldn’t take it. He must hate what he’s seen so far of her. He must have heard Rhonda talk about her, tell him all her mistakes of the past two years. Stupid Rhonda and her dumb gossip. And her stupid friends. And dumb bonehead boyfriend. Ugh!   
  
“Hey, Iron Fists!”   
  
Helga stopped and felt a body practically run right into her back. She turned around looking furious at a nervously smiling Lenny. He looked a bit like he was regretting his choice to follow her, by the look on her face.   
  
“What is it radish head?” She practically growled out.   
  
“Uh well, you dropped something on your uh… exit?”   
  
He presented a single unsealed envelope with her name on it. An old envelope that looked like it had been handled more than an envelope was meant to be handled. An envelope that made Helga’s eyes widen as she snatched it hastily from the boy without hesitation. He flinched at her forceful action as she stuffed it back into her jacket pocket.   
  
That envelope was just as sacred and secretive as the locket of her childhood. The embarrassment of some geeky stranger seeing the contents were utterly embarrassing, and it was devastating just to think about.   
  
The geeky stranger in question carefully spoke up again as Helga trembled with anger.   
“Yeah so uh, I still owe you for earlier, so--”  
  
“You don’t owe me and I don’t owe you a thing, Okay!?” Helga shot back, unable to keep her anger in anymore.  
“I don’t _like_ you, okay? We’re not friends, so stop following me around, or I’ll finish what Wolfgang started and knock you into next week!” She fumed at him, shoving a fist towards his face.   
  
“Heh, aye aye ma’am! D-duelly noted!” He waved his hands innocently at her threat, creeping backwards to scram.   
  
Once Lenny was gone, Helga’s shoulders finally sagged, her anger subsided.   
  
Awesome.   
  
_Why don’t you just threaten any and all people wanting anything to do with you? That sure is the way to a great freshman year._  
  
Sighing, she dragged her feet toward the nurses office. She felt a sudden ‘possible concussion’ coming on from feeling faint and slightly nauseous. At least the nauseous part was true.   
  


* * *

  
  
Arnold was determined. He didn’t think he’d run so fast in the last three months. And that was only because three months ago, he was being chased by a jaguar.   
  
There were more students in the halls now that lunch was ending, and he nearly ran into a girl with braces as he weaved through the bodies in front of him. A big guy with a leather jacket and an M shaved into his sideburns practically snarled at him for getting too close.   
  
Arnold was starting to wonder if he should take his dad’s advice about the shark pit seriously at this point.   
  
All these thoughts flying through his brain nearly caused Arnold to miss the familiar spikey haired boy that was slinking by him in the opposite direction. He stopped, turned around, and quickly approached him.   
  
“Lenny!”   
  
The boy in question flinched as he heard his name and peeked around his shoulder. Upon seeing Arnold, he relaxed a little.   
  
“Ahhh, suuup… Mr Old Mop Hair.” Lenny awkwardly greeted, which gained a very confused look from Arnold. Lenny realized that using that angry girl’s description of him was not really going to be funny since he wasn’t there to hear it. He quickly regretted his decision to use that nickname. Luckily, Arnold was too determined to respond to it.   
  
“Look, I’m sorry, but did you happen to talk to--”   
  
And there was the bell, ringing loudly in his ear.   
No literally. They were standing next to a speaker and the sound nearly made Arnold jump out of his shoes in an overdramatic cartoon manner.   
  
The hallway was crowded in seconds, and Lenny smiled awkwardly as he slowly sidestepped away.   
“I should probably stop getting into so much trouble today and keep my head down now. Better get off to class. Yep. Sorry. See ya!” Was the broken up sentence Lenny ended up spewing out before Arnold lost him in the crowd.   
  
Uncharacteristically, Arnold discarded his usual tendency to sigh, and instead let out a very frustrated groan.   
  


* * *

  
  
“What class you got next?”  
  
“Algebra 2.”  
  
“Phoebe, babe. It’s the first day. What happened to Algebra 1?”  
  
“Well my parents and I spoke to the principal two weeks prior, and we both came to the conclusion that my previous grades made it clear that I would not be challenged enough in 1.”   
  
Gerald just chuckled. “Of course.”   
  
As they moved together through the hall, they both blinked at a conversation the both of them could not unhear.   
  
“I can’t believe that Helga!”  
  
“Calm down Rhonda, I’m really okay, see? My arm bends this way, and this wa-- ouch!”  
  
“Ugh that’s IT. We are going to the nurses office right now.”   
  
“Super sad to see Arnold even puts up with that attitude.”   
  
“I don’t get it, but he’ll see soon enough why no one hangs out with her anymore.”   
  
Vicky and Camille huffed together in a bout of gossip as Rhonda complained her way down the hall tugging on a hesitant Chase.   
  
Gerald and Phoebe both looked worriedly at one another after eavesdropping.   
  
“Let me guess… Helga didn’t show up to join you for lunch, did she?” Gerald asked.   
  
“She did, but she disappeared after she went to get something to eat. I suspect she must have felt too uncomfortable to converse with Nora and the rest.” Phoebe sighed, feeling guilty. “And Arnold?”  
  
“Same. He disappeared after getting lunch. I think I spotted him getting dragged off by Eugene at one point. He probably just stretched himself too thin is my guess.”   
  
“A good deduction. According to the evidence presented today, I believe I have a fairly good idea of where Helga is. I better go speak with her as soon as possible.”   
  
“Right on. I’ll talk to Arnold. And Pheeb?”  
  
“Hm?”  
  
“You’re too good for this world. Stop showing off.” Gerald winked at her, causing her to giggle and roll her eyes at him.   
  
“I’ll see YOU, after school.” He made a dumb clicking sound at her with his teeth, which just made Phoebe shake her head at him while trying to contain a smile.   
  


* * *

  
  
Arnold stared at his desk in thought as the other students trickled in, his long head filled to the brim with questions and pondering all the things that must have happened since he left.   
How much did he miss, and how long would it take to catch up?  
Was he even too late, maybe?   
  
It sure was a daunting thought.   
He didn’t even notice when Gerald came into the room, smiling brightly at him as he plopped down into the seat next to him.   
It took a couple finger snaps to grab Arnold’s attention, to which he shook his head from his thoughts.   
  
“Head still in the clouds, check. Forget about lunch?”  
  
“Oh. Sorry about that Gerald. You won’t believe everything that happened after that. And all the people I ran into...” Arnold began to explain, hesitantly, as he wasn’t sure how to bring it all up.  
  
“Mmmhmm.” Gerald studied Arnold’s melancholy expression, shaking his head at the boy.   
  
“...What?” Arnold blinked.   
  
“Don’t worry so much about everyone Arnold. You just got here. Give it time. You can be ‘friend for all and doer of good’ again. But all in good time, ya know?”   
  
Arnold gave his friend a slanted smile, as if Gerald had read his mind.   
  
“How did you know I was--”  
  
“Ahhhh you’re not the only one gifted with magical powers now.” Gerald smugly straightened himself out. “It’s my job to keep all the tabs. You included.”   
  
“Heh. Fair enough. I guess I’m just a little overwhelmed by everything so far.”  
  
“That’s our Arnold for ya. Trying to help everyone out on the first day back. Seriously man, just relax! Focus on _you_ right now. If the opportunity to help a poor misguided soul appears, you can take it. But for now…. Let’s just make some happy little trees or whatever.” Gerald had picked up a paintbrush from the cup in front of him.   
  
Arnold laughed, gave Gerald a friendly handshake, and watched as their art teacher come in and shut the door behind him.   
  
Gerald was right. This stuff could be worried about later. School came first.   
He took a deep breath as his eyes traveled around the room, stopping at and empty desk and trying not to let his mind wander.   
  


* * *

  
  
“Yep ya know I think I’m starting to feel sick to my stomach, and I’m getting dizzy. Also I have a stabbing pain in my head… And not the usual kind of ‘there are idiots surrounding me at every turn’ stabbing pain either.”   
  
“Alright Helga. That bruise still looks pretty swollen, and I’d hate for you to pass out in the middle of class. Would you like me to call your parents for you?”   
  
Helga just waved her hands dismissively at the nurse.   
“Waaay ahead of ya doc.” She whipped out her phone from her pocket to prove she’d called them. “Already coming to pick me up, nothing to worry about except for the germs on all those doorknobs.”   
  
“Just a second Helga!” The nurse called her back momentarily, stuffing a new ice pack at her.  
“Don’t lose this one! Keep it on your eye until you get home. I’ll notify your remaining classes and let them know about your absence.”   
  
Helga gave her a half hazard finger gun as she walked backwards out the door. “Been a real slice, doc. Hope to not see ya soon!”   
  
She turned to exit the door and her expression immediately falling flat, feeling exhausted for the chipper charade.   
  
Helga was not going to call her parents. She was going to bike home by herself and go contemplate the meaning of life. Also, try to improve her luck by blending four-leaf clovers and rabbit’s feet into a shake or something.   
Okay maybe she’d leave out the rabbits feet. That was a pretty gross image.   
  
Just as Helga was leaving the building, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and began growling under her breath before even turning around.  
  
“Radish Head, I told you to leave alone before I—!!”   
Helga turned to see a very surprised Phoebe at the end of her threatening fist.   
  
“Phoebe! What—“   
“Hi Helga. Um, who’s ‘Radish Head?”   
  


* * *

  
  
The two of them found a private spot just outside the school to sit down and chat about Helga’s mishaps that day.  
  
Running late, losing her bow, Wolfgang, the scrawny radish head boy, the frog incident, the awkwardness at lunch, the creepy stairwell, and finally…  
  
“Arnold was there?” Phoebe asked in a surprised tone.   
  
“Ye-up. Seems to always be there to see me at my worst. Go figure right?”   
  
“Don’t worry Helga, once you’re able to talk to him one-on-one, I’m sure he’ll be more than reasonable about—“  
  
“ What makes you think I want to even talk with him at all?” Helga asked defensively.   
  
“...come on now Helga, you don’t mean that.” Phoebe tried.  
  
Helga sat quietly for a moment before answering this time. After pushing everyone else in her life away, one-by-one, Phoebe had always been looking out for her. She’d always cared. She never got scared off by her crass nature or mock insults. That said, she did start gaining confidence and hanging out with new friends, but she always made time for Helga, especially when she was in need. For this reason, Helga made special care to be open with her when she could manage it.   
  
  
  
“I do mean it, in a way.” Helga’s voice was solemn, void of any previous agitation. “How much of my life has been dependent on him? Absorbed, infatuated and obsessed. I was living with that dependency for so long that it practically broke me when he left. I felt like an empty shell of who I was. Like I’d lost all purpose. That’s horribly unhealthy. It’s sick!” she threw her arms up dramatically, and Phoebe gestured for her to take a deep breath.   
  
Helga frowned, took the damn deep breath as suggested, unwilling to admit how it helped her from getting worked up, her shoulders slumping back down.   
  
“Anyway. I don’t want to get it in my head that he’s come back into my life with the sole purpose of saving me or whatever. Fixing all my issues magically. I don’t wanna get wrapped back up into that world of extreme highs and lows again.”  
  
“Mmm, well maybe it’s possible to find a midway point.” Phoebe mused.   
  
Helga barked a short, sarcastic laugh. “Pheebs, you know there’s no medium with Arnold.”  
  
“Well, maybe that’s because you’ve never had a chance to have one.” Phoebe said, and Helga just curved a curious brow at her.   
  
“Think about it Helga. You went from hiding in the shadows, barely even being friends, mocking him and pushing him away, to being in a romantic relationship. There was no midground there at all. That’s like jumping straight into a hot tub without giving yourself a chance to get used to the temperature. All you end up doing is screaming in pain or passing out from the shock.”  
  
Helga snorted at the analogy. “Pretty accurate recap to what actually happened.”  
  
Phoebe shrugged with a smile. “I’m a wordy wonder, I know.”   
  
They both chuckled amongst each other, the conversation going quiet. Helga took a deep breath, sighing all on her own this time. Phoebe mentally congratulated her friend for doing so.   
  
“So what do I do then? Avoid him? Shove him away? Confess my obsessive feelings in a passionate impromptu display of affection?”   
  
“No, no and… definitely not. Do you think it’s possible to just, be real and express to him what you just expressed to me?”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
Phoebe sighed. “Why not?”  
  
“Because!” Helga exclaimed, unable to come up with a decent answer. “....It’s haarddd.”   
  
“Oh Helga.”   
  
“Look,” Helga began, “I would love to, really! But I just get so stupidly angry and snappy at the drop of a hat and I know I’m gonna mess things up! I’m just trying to avoid that from happening…”   
  
“Helga, you do that with everyone.”  
  
“Harsh. But it’s like a hundred times worse with Arnold alright?!” Helga stopped herself, realizing she was already getting snappy with Phoebe. She fingered the envelope in her pocket, pulling it out and peering down at it contemplatively.   
  
“Hmm. Well, maybe you just need to work up to that.”   
  
“What do you mean?” Helga asked, taking the laminated photo from the letter now.   
  
“Well, you’re more scared of messing up around Arnold than anyone else, right? So maybe you could practice being real with someone who you’re not as afraid of losing. A sort of, practice dummy. Maybe someone who doesn’t know the past you. A stranger even.”  
  
As Helga listened to Phoebe describe her idea, she spotted something inside the envelope that wasn’t always there. A scrap of yellow loose leaf paper. She pulled it from the innards and read the scribble upon it.   
  
_“I still owe you! Meet me behind the school at 3:15 and I will make-up for you having to listen to my nerdisms! -L (AKA R.H.)”_  
  
Helga just shook her head with an annoyed smile. “Alright Phoebe, fine. I’ll...try.”  
  


* * *

  
  
The bell rang, and the school practically erupted with enthusiasm.   
That’s because this bell was finally the last one.   
  
Arnold exited his last class feeling a bit better after having talked with Gerald previously. It was easy to get sucked up into old drama and try to fix everyone’s problems all the time. But boy did it take a toll. Focusing on class helped him relax.   
  
Still, Arnold couldn’t help but feel worried about the fact that Helga was absent when the teacher had taken attendance.   
He just hoped it wasn’t because of him. He’d hate to see her get into trouble over some silly misunderstanding.   
  
Students milled about as he stepped outside, lining up into the buses parked along the street. He pulled out the remainder of his cash he’d gotten that morning and glanced down at it, thankful for the kind soul who had been helping him out that morning. He felt a bit lost in thought at the memory, standing there, staring down at his hand as fellow students past him by.   
  
_Click._   
  
Arnold blinked, immediately looking up and turning to the direction of the noise he’d heard. A few feet away, he saw a student holding a camera at him, half poked out from a stone pillar.   
Upon realizing that Arnold was staring straight at him, the familiar face of Lenny looked surprised, scared, and then ducked back behind the pillar.   
  
Okay… strange. But was it worth being nosy about? I mean on one hand, here was the kid that he kept trying to talk to. Perfect opportunity right there. On the other…   
Arnold decided it wasn’t his business to pry and he was done budding into other people’s affairs for one day. He was going to take Gerald’s advice and stay out of things until he was settled in.   
  
As Arnold’s decision was cemented and he began to move on, he suddenly felt himself shoved to the side by a bulldozer of a guy who was rudely stomping through the crowd.   
  
“Excuse me! Oh, hey! Look who’s back! Football Face!” he saw Wolfgang of all people waving a friendly palm towards him as he stumbled backwards to his destination, trampling over of a couple unsuspecting freshmans while doing so.   
  
Arnold watched him make a beeline for the stone pillar as the freshmans stumbled up and attempted to gather the things dropped in the process.   
  
No, no. Still not his problem, Arnold thought, trying very hard at this point.   
  
“SURPRISE, you little shrimp!” he heard Wolfgang shout, followed by a surprised yelp, and some shuffling.   
  
_“If the opportunity to help a poor misguided soul appears, you can take it.”_  
  
Arnold stood there looking exasperated for a second, before groaning, giving in, and turning to run towards the ‘misguided souls’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another huge thank you to my buddies soliloquysfromintermission & Kurechi for helping to proofread this and give me ideas for the OCs and scene drawings! 
> 
> The scene between Helga and Phoebe here is perhaps my favorite in the whole story.   
> It's very easy to get stuck writing Helga as too broken/needing fixing by Arnold, and I don't intent to do that at all. (But she still has old habits, so I won't ignore those either) 
> 
> I think there will always be clichés in writing, but it's okay as long as you flesh things out and intend to add more weight later on.   
> Anyways, I'm rambling! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the story as always. I'm going to shoot for getting this completed by the end of the month. Thanks for sticking with me!


	13. Payback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A neutral party helps reunite our main characters, but will it end up well?

If Arnold wanted to get himself punched in the face today, he sure was taking the right path at the moment.   
  
He reassured himself that he was ‘doing the right thing’, which made him feel better, but not any less concerned about the punching part.   
  
“Hand it over!”  
  
“Ya know your arms are really strong? They’re like a work of art! It would have been a travesty not capture them. You could use them to model for a magazine even if I--”  
  
“Shut your face before I break more than just that camera!”  
  
“Could we maybe make a deal on breaking something besides the camera? Negotiations are a great stepping stone to a lot of future opportunities and all.”  
  
“That’s it. You talk to much.”  
  
Lenny began spewing out a series of unintelligible protests and screams as Arnold approached the two with a “Hey!”   
  
They both stopped. Wolfgang had Lenny pinned to the stone pillar and was reaching for his camera, which was being held firmly out of his reach.   
  
According to Lenny’s face, he’d be willing to give up his first born son in order to prevent his camera from being destroyed. The boy looked panicked beyond belief, and the sight of Arnold broke fleks of hope back into his eyes.   
  
“Mind your own business, football face. You may have grown a few inches, but you’re still easy enough to beat into a pulp if you interfere.” Wolfgang warned.   
  
“I don’t prefer pulp in my orange juice.” Lenny commented jokingly, which gained him a death glare in return from Wolfgang.   
  
Arnold gulped. Well here goes nothing.   
  
“Come on Wolfgang. Surely he doesn’t deserve to have his camera smashed. What’s the problem?” he calmly asked.   
  
“The PROBLEM is that this stalker needs to learn some manners about taking pictures of people without their permission!” Wolfgang answered angrily.   
  
Ignoring a string of quick apologies from Lenny, Arnold stepped closer.   
“Wait, is that really all there is? You’re mad about a picture he took of you?”  
  
Wolfgang merely squinted in response. “Yeah?”   
  
“So, why don’t we just delete the picture in question. You can do that, right Lenny?” He looked to Lenny, who was nodding his head rapidly with an innocent smile.   
  
“Because why take the risk of letting him be a stalker, when I could save everyone the trouble right now!” Wolfgang began reaching again for the camera in question, managing to actually grab it from Lenny’s hands this time.   
  
“Please! Don’t!” Lenny begged as Wolfgang held it in the air and ready to throw it to the ground.   
  
Arnold decided to take one more step forward.   
  
“Think about it. Destruction of property? You don’t want that on your record on day one of school. You’ve made your message clear. And I’m sure Lenny will never take a photo of someone without their permission again.”  
  
He looked towards Lenny, who seemed confused and was actually shaking his head at him stubbornly. Arnold looked at him sternly in return. When Wolfgang looked in Lenny’s direction, he quickly switched gears and turned to nodding his head instead.   
  
This guy was unbelievable.   
  
“See? Now how about we delete that photo and take a deep breath?” Arnold was now right in front of the two.   
  
Wolfgang just frowned for a second, taking in Arnold’s words. Rationality finally seemed to spark in his tiny brain, and he dropped Lenny to the ground without enough warning for him to catch himself.   
  
“OOF!”   
  
“Okay shrimp bait, tell me how to work this thing.” he demanded, and Lenny quickly scrambled towards the camera in concern.   
  
“Could we maybe wash our hands before handling the--”  
  
Arnold cleared his throat in an over dramatic way to catch Lenny’s attention, who caught Wolfgang’s glare, and just smiled instead.   
  
“Yeah okay no prob, no prob. So just press the little button on the side there.” He pointed out, and watched in horror as Wolfgang’s sausage fingers smeared all over his precious device.   
  
“No not that- yeah right, no, the little button. The one right where you pinky is, yeah, no, wait.”  
  
Before Wolfgang could strangle Lenny’s neck, Arnold stepped forward to press the button for him, turning the camera on. It was going to take everything in his repertoire to prevent a murder at this rate.   
  
“You do it, smartass.” Wolfgang shoved the camera at him, which he caught clumsily, looking up for instructions from Lenny.   
  
“Just that button there, and scroll through until you find, yep! Just like that.”   
  
Wolfgang and Lenny both hovered closely over the viewfinder on the camera as Arnold scrolled through previous photos. There were a lot of people captured here that had no idea they were getting their picture taken, but it was kind of cool. A real world imagery that wasn’t fake or fabricated. The angles were really intriguing as well. Arnold briefly wondered if he should tell Sid and his friends about Lenny’s skills. But then… maybe that wasn’t a good idea.   
  
As Arnold scrolled through, he suddenly stopped at one picture in particular, his eyes widening in surprise.   
  
It was a photo of Helga, her back to the camera, and Wolfgang crumpled on the ground in front of her out of focus. She was standing up high, her arms out, posed as if she’d just knocked him to the ground. With the lighting surrounding her frame in focus, it had a really powerful feel to the photo overall. But to Arnold, it just created a wistful feeling in his gut. This must have been where she got that black eye...  
Lenny noticed the look Arnold gave upon viewing the photo, and blinked curiously.   
  
“Delete that one too!” Wolfgang blurted out, snatching the camera from Arnold. “How do I delete it?”   
  
“Just, the button with the trashcan icon there, yeah, wait, make sure you don’t--!”   
  
Wolfgang pressed the button and found the option “delete all”, which he immediately scrolled down to and pressed with an “Oops” as he cleared out all the data on the camera.   
  
Arnold watched as Lenny’s face was suddenly barren of all emotion as the files ‘blipped’ from his viewfinder on the screen. The poor guy looked like he’d just seen a ghost.   
  
“HAHAHA don’t look so distraught! ...I learned that word in English today.” Wolfgang just laughed as he tossed the camera back into Arnold’s hands.   
  
Arnold caught it and looked back towards Lenny, who still had a stoic look on his face.   
  
“You’re lucky the football face is back in town to protect you freshmans. But next time you cause trouble it’s both your asses.” Wolfgang pointed a finger at them warningly, before turning around to leave.   
  
A few more small, unsuspecting Freshman got underfoot as he marched away. He looked like a gorilla tripping over a pile of meerkats.  
  
Arnold walked over to Lenny, presenting his camera, and hoping he wasn’t too upset by his photos getting deleted.   
Lenny took the camera back slowly, his eyes following Wolfgang as he left.   
  
“Lenny…? You okay?” he asked.   
  
Arnold did not expect to see a smile creep slowly onto the guy’s face. It was kind of scary.  
  
“Thank yoouuu thank you thank you thank youuu!” Lenny was practically bowing at Arnold’s feet.   
  
Arnold awkwardly patted Lenny on the back in hope that he would stand up. He looked around to see other students staring at them from further away.   
The worshiping thing was one thing in San Lorenzo, but he really did not want that to follow him back in the city.   
  
“Hey, it’s no problem. I’m sorry you lost your photos though.” Arnold apologized.   
  
Lenny stood up and just grinned at that, pulling a small trinket from his pocket and displaying it proudly with an “Ah-HAH!”  
  
“What’s that?”  
  
“A USB!”  
  
“Umm…” Arnold was having trouble understanding the connection here.   
  
“Man, did you come from the jungle or what?” Lenny laughed.   
  
“Well, actually--”  
  
“I always backup my files when I find a masterpiece. Quick as lightning!”   
  
“Oh! Right.” Arnold finally understood. Lenny had a copy of the photos that he thought were deleted. Of course. He sighed in relief, just glad that the drama was over.   
  
Lenny was busy storing his camera back into a small pouch in his backpack as Arnold contemplated asking something. He almost felt suspicious, as if about to get interrupted again.  
  
Might as well try one last time.  
  
“I never got to ask you,” Arnold said, “Who told you to give my schedule back earlier today?”   
  
Lenny looked back at him, looking thoughtful, until he bopped himself in the temple as if annoyed.   
  
“Auugh! I still didn’t catch her name!” He groaned.   
“But it’s that same girl you were looking at on my camera. You know, the one who fell on you at lunch?” He chuckled.  
  
Arnold looked up, realization hitting him. “Helga?”   
  
“So that’s her name! Seems fitting. So you know her, eh? She told me to give the schedule to ‘ _A football headed boy with hair that sticks out like an old broom_ ’.”  
  
Arnold couldn’t help but smile a bit at that. “Yeah, I know her.”   
  
Lenny looked at Arnold with raised eyebrows, trying to decipher the wistful smile on his face.  
  
“She saved my butt from Wolfgang earlier today! If it wasn’t for her, I’d probably have a broken camera and a broken neck by now.” Lenny added. He decided to leave out the part where she threatened to beat him up afterwards.  
  
“Heh, no kidding.” Arnold mused.   
  
So, Helga was already secretly looking out for him, just like the old days. Not to mention looking out for others as well. It gave him a bit of hope that she wasn’t completely trying to avoid him, at least.   
  
“Yep, you two are like my own personal super heroes! I really owe you know too. Hey, give me your phone number so I can make it up to you!” Lenny pulled out his phone, ready to jot it down.   
  
“Sure,” Arnold reached into his backpack to fetch his little notebook, “But I don’t have a cell phone, so you’ll have to write yours down here.” He handed the book to Lenny, who seemed absolutely flabbergasted.   
  
“You don’t have a cellphone?!” He seemed almost outraged.   
  
“No?”   
  
“No is right! No no no. Will not do one bit. Mm-mm. I have just the way to pay you back. You’re getting a cellphone right now.”   
  
“Wait, right now? Really?”   
  
“Yeah, come on! I have this buddy of mine. Goes by the name ‘Velvet Jammies’. He can hook me up with a new smartphone in an instant if I ask. Let me just text him and let em’ know we’re coming…” Lenny began tapping his fingers against the screen on his phone as he explained.   
  
“Ahh, alright. Sure. I really appreciate that!” Arnold didn’t know what to say.   
  
Lenny looked at the time on his phone as he sent off a text.   
  
3:10.   
  
He thought momentarily, glancing back at Arnold, then back at his phone. He smiled to himself, having the perfect opportunity in his hands after putting together some puzzle pieces.  
  
“Hey um, before we get your new phone, is it okay if we meet up with someone first? I sorta promised I’d catch them soon and I figure they won’t mind you tagging along.”   
  
“Oh, sure,” Arnold blinked, not really minding. “Who are you meeting?”  
  
Lenny just batted a hand, “Ahh you’ll see. Come on it’s this way!”   
  


* * *

  
  
_What am I doing?_  
  
Helga hunched over against the back of the school building, the icepack she’d been given held against her eye. It still stung like all hell, but at least it wasn’t so poofy anymore.   
Instead of biking home early and getting a head start on her good luck concoction, here she was, waiting for nerd brain to do whatever he was planning to make it up to her. Like he’d even show up after she’d screamed at him earlier. Maybe this was stupid. A waste of time. Just a bad idea in gen--  
  
“Hey Helga.”   
  
Helga froze, still hunched over looking towards the ground with the ice pack against one half of her face. That was not the voice she expected to hear.   
  
She quickly looked up, seeing Arnold and Lenny standing right in front of her smiling. Arnold’s smile in particular made her want to die. Stop being so cute oh my god.   
  
“Arnold?! Radish Head, what are…?”   
  
“The girl’s got a talent for identifying head shapes. I will say.” Lenny shrugged, taking off his backpack and kneeling down next to Helga as he rummaged through it. Arnold just chuckled in response, as if this was a perfectly casual meeting.   
  
Helga was freaking out. She did not prepare for this. Lenny was supposed to be the practice dummy, and Arnold was the final boss. The practice dummy and the final boss were NOT supposed to team up in the very beginning of the game. She needed to find all her special abilities and custom weapons first before taking this on. It wasn’t fair.   
  
Oh no! Now Lenny’s nerdy brain was even rubbing off on her! This was bound to be a disaster.   
  
“Arnold helped me with Wolfgang too, can you believe it? Now I need to pay back both of you!” Lenny explained, still looking through his backpack.   
  
“Wha-” Helga took a careful glance up towards Arnold, who was looking at her with absolutely zero trouble at all. He just looked down at her from where he was with the most pleasant smile. Nothing scared, or worried, or concerned in his eyes this time. Helga couldn’t quite interpret it. What had changed from earlier?   
  
“I told you, I’ve got the perfect way to make-up for my nerdisms, hehe.” Lenny pulled out a literal make-up kit from his backpack, a cheeky grin accompanying the pun.   
  
“Seriously?” Helga finally responded, her freak-out levels lowering a bit from the lame joke.   
Maybe this could work, actually. Lenny was a good buffer here. The training dummy idea could still work.   
  
“Trust me, I’m an expert at covering up injuries with this stuff.” Lenny began, dabbing some weird sponge thing into a tray of skin colored makeup. “You’re dang lucky I have the right tones for your skin, hold still.”   
  
“Ow! Easy! What are you doing?” Helga complained as he gently touched her cheek with the soft tool to test it. She did not appreciate Arnold’s amused grin in the background.   
  
“Applying foundation! It won’t hurt if you sit still I promise.”  
  
“Says you…” Helga grumbled, squinting as Lenny dabbed a bunch of crap all over her face.   
  
“Hmmm, a good start, but that bruise is stubborn alright. Hang on lemme get some concealer here…” To Helga’s dismay, he pulled out even more makeup, this one in some kind of tube.   
  
“Why do you carry all this makeup with you, Lenny?” Arnold had to ask the obvious, if only to distract Helga from the process. Honestly, if he hadn’t asked, she was about to. In less of polite way, of course.  
  
“Well, remember how I said I have a lot of sisters?” Lenny was now dabbing some wet substance carefully around Helga’s eye and slowly wiping it around.   
  
“Ohhh.” Arnold responded, watching as Lenny capped the concealer tube and began flicking a powder brush all over her skin, Helga flinching in annoyance.   
  
“Ohhh- _nothing,_ that still doesn’t explain why you’d be carrying it around--”  
  
“Allllll done!” Lenny announced, interrupting Helga’s accusation and pulling out a makeup mirror for her to see herself in.   
  
If it weren’t for the mere fact that Lenny could possibly perform magic, Helga would have pried more. However, she was absolutely stunned looking back at her eye in the mirror. This vegetable-headed wizard had cast some sort of healing spell on her. The bruise was completely hidden.   
  
“Goddamn Radish Head. How did you do that?” She moved the mirror back and forth across her face, and Lenny looked incredibly proud to hear she was impressed.   
  
“I know I know. I’m good. Hold your applause.” He gloated.   
  
Helga sneered at him, shoving the mirror back at him in annoyance. Amazement now over.   
  
“Anyway…” Helga stood up with Lenny, shuffling her feet for a second while she forced a simple word from her lips. Aughh why was this so difficult. “...Thanks.”   
  
Arnold and Lenny actually shared their own impressed look as Helga said that.   
  
“It looks good, you look good.” Arnold complimented her, nodding in approval. The return look of surprise she gave him made him a bit embarrassed. He wondered if that was too much. “A lot better, I mean. You know.” He flinched a little.  
  
 _Okay Arnold, shut up. You’re making it worse._  
  
“Okay! Now it’s your turn!” Lenny pointed at Arnold, who was relieved for the distraction.  
“Come on, I promised I’d get you a free cell phone, and my buddy Velvet PJs is only a couple blocks away!” And he started walking before they could ask questions.   
  
Arnold and Helga looked at each other curiously, both unsure of where exactly he was taking them.   
  
“Velvet PJs..?” Helga said.   
  
Arnold just gave an amused shrug and started following. Helga did as well, albeit a bit more apprehensively.   
  
“And… why do you need me exactly?” Helga complained out of habit. This was completely false. She was leaping through a bed of metaphorical flowers in her mind from merely walking alongside Arnold.   
_  
Settle down. Don’t blow it._  
  
It was an odd sort of situation where they both had so much they wanted to say to each other, but not in front of someone else. And even so, where would they begin?  
  
“Well you guys are old friends, right?” Lenny turned back at them, rounding a corner. “You can catch up this way!”   
  
The two in question looked towards each other awkwardly.   
  
Yep, this was awkward alright. Now there was pressure to talk to each other.   
Not to mention Helga could have sworn she saw Lenny looking back at her with an all knowing, sneaky smile.   
_  
Now way. That little shit._  
  
Although suddenly feeling very shy, Arnold couldn’t help but smile a bit at the prospect. He glanced at Helga as they walked and noticed a small smile of her own for a split second. That was before she caught his eye and frowned in reaction, crossing her arms stubbornly.   
  
“Sooo…” Arnold racked his brain for the least cringey small talk topic he could think of. “It sure is a lot colder up here.”   
  
_Really? The weather? You can do better than that._  
  
Helga had no idea how to respond. This was so weird.   
  
“Ahh-yep. Not as hot as San Lorenzo.”  
  
“Especially in the summer. It gets so humid you can nearly swim in the air.”  
  
“Yeah, I remember.”   
  
“Oh right.” Arnold felt pretty silly remembering that Helga had indeed been there during the summer. Gosh this was painful. Why was this so difficult? The air was definitely thicker here, and it wasn’t due to the water. Luckily, neither of them had to split it the tension in it.   
  
“Here we are!” Lenny stopped in front of a very tall apartment building. A fancy one at that, by the looks of the gate and keypad.   
  
Both Arnold and Helga took a mental breath of relief on being freed from the awkward small talk.   
  
Helga looked up at the place, making an impressive whistle. This thing was at least 10 floors tall and boasted a cool neon sign upon the entrance.   
  
“So he’s a… bit private and not really keen on meeting strangers. So I’ll be as fast as I can, alright?” Lenny began tapping a code into the keypad entrance.   
  
“You’re making us wait? Really?” Helga asked.   
  
“It’s alright. We’ll be right here. Thanks again for the help Lenny.” Arnold cut in politely.   
  
He made a goofy sort of salute before opening the gate and shutting it behind him, leaving Arnold and Helga to as much awkward small talk as they could handle now.   
  
Send help.  
  


* * *

  
  
After all day jumping through hoops to talk to Helga, Arnold stood there, leaning against the wall of this building next to her, and he had absolutely no idea what to say.   
  
Luckily, Helga broke the silence for him.  
  
“So, how come you’re not hangin’ out with Geraldo and his pack of stooges?”  
  
Arnold rubbed the back of his neck, not sure how to put it at first.  
“Well… in all honestly I guess I just felt a little, well, left out.”  
  
Helga scoffed. “You?”  
  
“Hey, it’s been a long time!” Arnold replied defensively, “and everyone’s made so many new friends since I’ve been gone. They’re all part of new groups of friends and they all wanted me to be a part of them…”  
  
Helga just looked at him out of the corner of her eye, arms crossed in a very unsympathetic way.   
  
“Well looks like you’ve got your pick of the litter when it comes to friend circles, buckaroo.”   
  
“That’s just it, though…” Arnold began, gesturing with his hands, “I was welcomed into so many groups, but yet, I didn’t feel like I belonged in any of them… it’s weird, right?” He looked back up at Helga, who looked a bit surprised.  
  
She looked away for a second, thinking. Arnold felt like he didn’t belong in any friend groups? What on Earth? Before she could come up with a response, Arnold was talking again.   
  
“So… who’ve you been hanging out with since I’ve been away? Have you made any new friends since I was here last?”  
  
Helga just looked at him with sad eyes that didn’t know how to hide the pain she felt from that question. She didn’t have to respond, Arnold felt it. But the moment only lasted for a split second before Helga casually waved it off.   
  
“Ahhh you know, just harassing Phoebe like usual. No one else has time for my shenanigans anyways hahah, you know how it is.”   
  
Although Helga did a good job laughing off the question, Arnold didn’t laugh back or look away. He smiled, but it was a heavy smile that seemed to understand the pain in her guise.   
  
“So you’ll probably be hanging out with her after school then?” Arnold pondered.   
  
“You kidding? Her and Smooth-Moves-McGee have an RSVP at the canoodle hut.”  
  
Arnold just blinked. “What?”  
  
“Ya know. Her and Gerald. Tonsil Hockey.”  
  
Arnold raised his eyebrows.   
  
“Suckin face, Football Head. Date night!”   
  
“Oh!” Arnold’s eyes widened, nearly forgetting about their relationship and blushing at how oblivious he was being about Helga’s slang.   
  
Helga curved an eyebrow, slightly amused at his reaction.   
  
“S-sorry I didn’t realize-- anyways, yeah that’s... right, so that’s a no then.” He shook his head, not understanding why he was stuttering all of a sudden. At least it seemed to have perked Helga up a bit, as she suddenly seemed very amused.  
  
“Sheesh Arnoldo, I see we’re clueless as ever with the dating scene. Did your parents ward off all would be girlfriends back in ol’ Sanny or what?”   
  
“Huh?” Arnold blinked at the question, biting his lip before answering. “Ahh, no. They were actually always really annoying about that, trying to nudge me towards any girl that would talk to me.”   
  
For some reason he felt like that was the wrong thing to say at the moment.  
  
“Oh?” Helga inquired, looking a bit closer to him when he looked back over at her. “Got any juicy details from the dark depths of the jungle?” She leaned into him playfully, obviously making fun of him, but Arnold still couldn’t help but feel his heart speed up at it.   
  
“Mmm sorry to disappoint you, but not really. Guess I never really… connected with anyone like that..” His eyes were looking up, then towards his feet, and basically anywhere but at Helga.   
  
“Ah yeah? Well that’s a darn shame.” Helga’s lips pursed, still looking like she was teasing him.   
  
Arnold finally looked to her with vengeful eyes and took a chance.   
  
“Why? How come I’m the one getting drilled here. What about you?”   
  
“Same.” was Helga’s quick response, as she went back to leaning against the wall next to him and crossing her arms.   
  
This dismissiveness was confusing Arnold, so he inquired further.   
“Same…?”   
  
Helga sighed dramatically. “Arnold, we’ve already addressed that I’ve made no new friends since you’ve been gone, let alone relationships. So yeah! No! Of course not!”   
She threw up her hands in emphasis and Arnold flinched back a bit.   
  
“Well….” He started.   
  
“Well!” Helga mocked, still a bit exasperated at his slow pace.   
  
“Well maybe we could hang out then!” Arnold finally spat out.   
  
Helga was taken aback, genuinely, and her eyes widened a bit.   
  
Arnold realized the connection between his proposal and Helga’s last conversation and quickly tried to backpedal out of the insinuation he’d just made.  
  
 “I mean as friends! To catch up! You just said you don’t have anyone to hang out with since Phoebe spends all her time with her new friends and Gerald and well, I’ve been feeling a bit disconnected from all these friend circles anyway, and you’re the only friend from the old group I haven’t gotten to spend time with yet….”   
  
His frantic explanation finally came to a halt, and he looked back up at Helga, hoping this wasn’t as awkward as he felt he made it.   
  
Luckily, Helga was looking at him with that playful, mocking smile again, her arms still crossed. But it somehow made him feel less tense.   
  
“So let me get this straight. You wanna spend time with mean old Helga G. Pataki?” she asked, challenging his idea.  
  
He stared at her curious expression, unsure of what to make of it. Finally, he smiled back and answered.   
  
“As long as you don’t throw pudding at me or shoot spitballs at my head, then yes.”   
  
Helga quickly grabbed his hand and shook it comically.   
  
“You’ve got yourself a deal, string bean! But no promises on the spitballs. I’ve gotten very rusty and your head is a perfectly shaped target, after all.”   
  
Arnold actually laughed at her threat and the playfulness behind it, happy to see a bit of her old self shining through.  
  
When they had run out of witty remarks to shoot back to each other and Helga’s over-dramatic handshake had calmed down, there was a second or two where Arnold realized he was still holding Helga’s hand as his laughing settled down, and the two looked at each other as if off in their own world.   
  
Arnold was just remembering the bits of Helga in his childhood he really admired. Those small instances of her making others laugh and being confident in herself. That fiery passion she had for what she believed in and never abandoning her dignity for cheap thrills. That warm, hazy feeling he got at the pit of his stomach during those moments their lips would touch all those years ago...  
  
That train of thought must have been the reason this moment had gone silent, and Arnold quickly realized that he was the one gripping on to her hand and not letting it go, which was causing Helga to stare at him with a look of complete bewilderment.   
  
“Pulse Rate increased to 200 bpm! Make sure to take a break from intense exercising!”   
  
Arnold’s watch announced very unwelcoming, splitting the tension in half and making Arnold blush like mad as he went to tap the watch aggressively in embarrassment.   
  
Helga blinked for a moment as she took in what was happening, then outright belting out into laughter at Arnold’s frustration with his obnoxious watch.   
  
“Ayyyyee, did I miss some hilarious joke or what?” Lenny asked, coming back in from the front entrance.   
  
Helga and Arnold didn’t hear him come out through Helga’s laughter and both of them sat upright as if being caught for smoking in church when they heard Lenny.   
  
“Huh. Must’ve been a good one since your face is all red, Arnold. Ya got a joke book in that watch or what?” He pointed out.   
  
Arnold just sighed as he gave up on assaulting his watch.   
  
“The only joke is how technologically oblivious this doofus is.” Helga teased, pushing at Arnold’s arm a bit and receiving a mock glare in return.  
  
“So what’cha got for him, Lenny?”  
  
Lenny pulled out a shiny white box and opened it up dramatically and very slowly, humming the treasure box opening jingle from Zelda as he did so.   
  
Before he could finish the climatic, “DAA NA NA NAAAAA!”, Helga swiped the smartphone from the case.   
  
“Crimedy, Radish Head! We don’t got all day here!” and she tossed it to Arnold.   
  
“Awww way to ruin my fun!” Lenny complained as Arnold busied himself with the phone.   
  
He looked down at it like a cat looked at a pile of catnip. It was so small and had so much… stuff displayed on it! He was already swiping around and looking through it, fascinated at the technology.   
  
“Yeah, the latest model. My cuz got that connection! And it’s on the house too! He owed me for fixing his firewall and installing a mod on it last month, so I figured I’d pay it forward and all.”   
  
“Nerd…” Helga mocked.   
  
“Thank you.” Lenny replied unaffected by the comment.   
  
“Thank YOU, Lenny! This is really great, I don’t know what to say!” Arnold said.  
  
“No prob, even exchanged phone numbers with it too so you can call me if you need help with it. Plus my email and gamertag for all the major consoles too.”   
  
“...Mega nerd.” Helga remarked.   
  
“You just bein’ salty of my epicness, sister. Don’t go into cardio arrest now!” Lenny held up a hand to Helga, teasing her right back.   
  
“ _Cardiac_ arrest you dumbass.”  
  
Arnold chuckled, finding the contacts section on his phone and seeing one stored number in it. He curved a brow at the name listed.   
  
“CriticalStarfish42?”   
  
“It’s my gamer name!” Lenny held his arms out like it was a no brainer.   
  
“I was wrong, you’ve now upgraded to ultra nerd.” Helga shook her head with a smile.   
  
“I am now fully evolved thank you. Although you should know that ultra comes before mega in most instances.”  
  
Helga and Arnold looked at each other.   
  
“...Just for future reference.”  
  
The three of them all started laughing before a car honk was heard in the distance and Lenny rushed over towards it.   
  
“Hey, that’s my mom. Hey mom!” He called to her, and she battled a hand at her side mirror unenthusiastically.   
  
Lenny turned back to them and then ran over to give them both an unexpected hug. Arnold and Helga both looked at each other with surprised faces as they were both pulled into the hug and got a bit squashed together.   
  
“Thank you guys. You made the first day of highschool way less crappy than I thought it would be.”   
He pulled back and smiled a really cheesy smile, which made Arnold smile back, where as Helga just shook her head at him.   
  
[](https://sta.sh/03kb56fhthl)  
  
“Nice to meet you too Lenny.”  
  
“Yeah you’re alright, Radish Head.”   
  
“See ya!” Lenny said as he got into the passenger seat and began talking to his mom.   
The lanky woman hadn’t paid attention to anything outside since she’d pulled up. A cigarette balanced in between her fingers left a smoke trail out the window.  
  
“Mom! You wanna hear about my day?!”  
  
“Not really.”  
  
“I met these two new friends and they’re really cool! Helga saved me from getting beaten up and--” The conversation was cut off as the car drove off.  
  
With Lenny gone, and the two of them left alone again, Arnold just silently prayed his watch wouldn’t say anything else that was stupid to embarrass him.   
  
One could only hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaay they finally get to interact with each other! But will this end well? Hmm?
> 
> Only one chapter left, and it's long. It's also done, I just have to finish some art for it, and it'll be posted later this week. 
> 
> I still plan to make more stories in this same universe, however. :3


	14. The cynical, sassy girl with the pink bow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After 2 years of being separated, Arnold & Helga finally have a heart to heart. Emotions may or may not spew out like a geyser here. Just sayin'.

The two stood there for a couple of quiet seconds, not really knowing what to say, until they both started talking at the same time.  
  
Of course.  
  
“Are you going home n--”  
  
“Well I better find my--”  
  
They stopped abruptly, looking at each other and wondering who should go first. Arnold smiled nervously and extended his hands to let her continue.  
  
Helga’s smile was no less awkward as she swung a thumb behind her in a pointing gesture.  
“...Gonna go get my bike. So…”  
  
“Is that how you’re getting home?” Arnold asked.  
  
Helga sighed. “Until I get a car, it’s the fastest way to school.”  
  
She began walking back towards the school to go get it.  
  
Not having anywhere else to go, Arnold habitually followed, walking along side her as he thought about what to say.  
  
“That’s a pretty long way though, Helga.” he commented casually, “To bike all the way from your place.”  
  
Damn this guy. Every time he said her name in that stupid low teenager Arnold voice, it sent a shiver down her spine. They were already back at the school at this point, and she was dreading the thought of them parting ways. She quickly composed herself and found her cynical response before he could notice.  
  
“Well whoop-dee-friggin-doo. Guess I’ll just build some muscles this year.” she shrugged, stopping at a familiar bush.  
  
“Heh, I’m glad I’m not the only one finding the silver lining in these situations.” Arnold smiled brightly at her.  
  
Helga was looking back at him, a confused expression at first, although her eyes were smiling. She quickly shook her head sarcastically and reached into the bush she was standing near.  
  
“YEAH, well… Don’t get used to it. Your annoying optimism is just as contagious as it always was, that’s all.”  
  
Arnold didn’t break his sly smile as he watched her fish around in the bush.  
“Whatever you say, Helga.”  
  
Helga groaned as she pulled something out from the bushes, and Arnold blinked at it. When she turned to face him, she was holding two pieces of what looked like a plastic bike lock.  
  
“So tell me something then. Where’s the silver lining now, Football Head?”  
  
Arnold looked with genuine disappointment for Helga after realizing her bike must have been stolen. On the first day of school, too.  
  
Helga just looked exhausted and beat down, her anger fizzled out to a dull hiss. He looked towards her eye. The coverup makeup did a nice job hiding the bruise, but he could still see the swollenness behind it as he concentrated on her face.  
  
On the outside, Helga seemed like the same person he’d left two years ago. The same snide and witty conversationalist. Tough, but confident, if a little defensive. But behind her eyes, there was sadness. Some empty, hollow feeling he couldn’t quite put his finger on.  
_  
Helga, what happened to you while I was gone?_  
  
He wished he could just have a heart-to-heart with her and get some insight…  
  
Suddenly, Arnold had found his silver lining!  
  
“The silver lining is… is…” He started, and Helga looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.  
  
_Oh this’ll be good._  
  
“At least we can.. Walk home together?” Arnold gave a clumsy, toothy grin.  
  
Helga’s face fell in surprise. She took a second to process the suggestion and inwardly swooned.  
  
_Oh Arnold, you sweet, benevolent young man. How can I resist such a tender request? How I’ve been wanting to converse with you and walk beside you like this for so long, hoping to rekindle what we once had…_  
  
_Don’t get too excited now Helga… You don’t want to get your heart broken all over again, do you?!_  
  
She internally smacked herself. In the meantime, her range of expressions changing was pretty impressive. At least to Arnold. He just hoped her internal conflict would end up with her saying yes.  
  
“ALL right. Optimal Optimism King Achievement awarded. Kudos to you, let’s go.”  
She turned and started for the sidewalk.  
  
“But don’t expect me to be a grand topic manufacturer or anything.”  
  
Arnold smiled, following her in his ‘little lost puppy’ way again as he pulled out his new phone.  
  
“Don’t worry. You can help me with this! I have a lot of phone numbers to log into it.”  
  
Helga just rolled her eyes. “Huzzah.”

* * *

  
  
“Okay, next is,” she cleared her throat, “ _Ms. Rhonda Wellington Lloyd_.”  
  
Helga embellished her name in a fake, fancy tone to imitate Rhonda herself. Arnold was busy typing her name into his contacts.  
  
“Okay, got it. Number? ...And was the full name really necessary?”  
  
“Just reading em’ as I see em, bucko.” Helga shoved the notebook in his face to show him. Rhonda really had written it just like that, cursive handwriting and all.  
  
“Wow, no kidding.”  
  
“See?” Helga said, giving him her number to jot down. They both shared a small laugh at the ridiculousness, before Arnold looked at his phone again. He appeared to be having trouble understanding something.  
  
“What?” Helga asked.  
  
“Uhh, it’s prompting me to input some information. I’m not sure what this means.” He faced the phone screen towards her.  
  
“Oh, easy, here I got it.” She said, and Arnold willinging offered up his phone for her to tap around in. “You don’t want all these emails sent you, uncheck, blah blah… yes.”  
  
She continued to tap in information into his phone. After a minute or two, he heard a sound effect that sounded like a camera shutter. He looked over towards her to see her quickly change her expression to look back at him. She looked slightly embarrassed.  
  
“Did you just take a picture?”  
  
“Ahh no, your camera app just popped up to finalize some setting, and my finger slipped onto the button. But at least you have a neat picture of my shoes. So there’s that.”  
  
She handed the phone back to him after that. “Alright all good to go. You can continue with your number logs now.”  
  
“Thanks Helga.” Arnold readied his phone for the next number as Helga thumbed through the list on his notebook again.  
  
“Alright neeeext we got,” Helga stopped for a second, “Wait, how the heck did you get Curly’s number?”  
  
“Um what? I didn’t.”  
  
[](https://sta.sh/01ofak2ot42c)  
  
“Well it’s in here,” Helga smirked, reading the page, “Along with an arrow pointing up at Rhonda’s number saying “you’re mine now, baby”… yikes.” Helga squinted at it as Arnold was shoving his head over to see for himself.  
  
She felt her heart briefly imitate a butterfly wing as she could feel his hair tickle her cheek.  
  
“That is pretty darn creepy alright.” He observed, eyes wide as he looked down at the message, and then at Helga, who was just nodding in agreement.  
  
He moved aside to look back down at his phone as Helga’s eyes carefully followed him.  
  
“So you wanna skip this one or plug it in just in case?” she asked.  
  
Arnold mused for a second. “Should I?”  
  
“Well if you have it, you can at the very least ignore it if he calls you.” Helga offered.  
  
“Smart. Let’s do it.” Arnold pointed at her with a smile.  
  
Helga shot him a determined, inquisitive look at his friendly gesture before she started rattling off the numbers for him.  
  
“Alright got it. Safety measures in place now.”  
  
He smiled a toothy grin, and Helga was about to make fun of him for being a dork, before she scanned the next name on the list.  
  
Her expression tensed, and Arnold found his notebook slapped suddenly into his chest.  
  
“I’m bored. You can add the rest when you get home.”  
  
Helga was suddenly walking at a greater distance from him with her hands shoved in her pockets.  
  
“Sure, okay.” Arnold blinked as he watched her, looking down at his list and reading the next name there.  
  
_Victoria “Vicki” Vanderfort_  
  
He frowned at the name as he looked back up at Helga’s back as they walked.  
  
“So…” Arnold figured this was the best segway to knowing what happened that he was going to get, and he quickly jogged a bit to catch up with her.  
  
“What did this girl do to make you so..”  
  
Helga stopped, looked back at him with an an unintentional death glare, and he immediately shrunk behind her.  
  
“...mad?”  
  
Helga noticed his fearful expression and she instantly deflated, turning around with a sigh.  
  
“Don’t worry your pretty little football head about it.” Her voice trailed off, tired and weak.  
  
Arnold titled his head, unsure of what to do.  
  
Would pressing the issue be good? Or would she just put up a higher wall? It was always a sticky situation with Helga. In the end, he decided to go with his ‘old wise man’ instincts.  
  
Helga’s entire body prickled when she felt his hand touch her back, not expecting it.  
  
“Helga, you don’t have to tell me, but if you ever need to get something off your chest, I’m a pretty good listener, you know..”  
  
With her back still facing him, and her shoulders tensely raised, Helga desperately resisted the urge to swing around and scream at him about ever needing to vent to a stupid doof like him. She figured this was her childhood habits crawling their way back into her psychosis.  
  
When she did turn her head to look back at him though, she just saw a concerned boy who was… shivering.  
  
They had stopped walking after all.  
  
_Goddamnit, Arnold. Stop being so adorably pitiful._  
  
Helga heaved another heavy sigh and shrugged her way out of her pink jacket, tossing it around Arnold’s shoulders, quickly marching off down the sidewalk again.  
  
“You’re so pathetic, scarecrow.”  
  
Arnold found himself slightly flustered at the gesture. (And the new nickname. How many more of these did she have?)  
  
  
Was him being cold _that_ obvious? He was kind of embarrassed, but he slung his arms through the jacket anyhow and jogged back up to her. He was thankful for the additional warmth, at least.  
  
They were both quiet for a minute before Helga was able to calculate her words enough to speak. With a hard swallow and some mental preparation to not come off as hostile, she slowly forced herself to respond.  
  
“Anyway I… don’t want to talk about it right now... sorry.”  
  
“Oh, it’s okay.” Arnold said with a bit of disappointment in his voice.  
  
“But,” Helga paused, making sure not to look at him as she said, “If I do want to talk about it, I’ll t-t-talk to you, alright?! Sheesh! Now will ya stop looking like some sort of kicked puppy already?”  
  
Helga violently crossed her arms and looked away from him, embarrassed from the stutter. Why did she always have to do that when trying to be nice to him?  
  
Arnold looked over towards her with a big smile, even though she wasn’t making eye contact. He was trying not to laugh at her struggle when he answered.  
  
“Sure Helga. I look forward to it.”  
  
Things were quiet now, and the two of them walked side by side for the next few minutes, an internal struggle brewing within each of them.  
  
Arnold kept staring at her hand swaying freely as she walked. His subconscious wanted to reach out and grab it, remembering the feeling of holding it sometimes in 6th grade… when she allowed it.  
  
He didn’t know why, it was just a nice feeling. Although for obvious reasons, he directed his eyes away from it and decided against the idea.  
  
Helga meanwhile, was lost in her own thoughts.  
  
_I swear this sappy football head is going to internally murder me if he keeps acting like a friggin’ saint. I wish I could just grab the sucker and hug him and spill my guts to him like the good old days, but that’ll probably just scare him off for good. Maybe I’m the scarecrow here… I bet he doesn’t even think of me that way anym—_  
  
“I missed you.” Arnold’s voice suddenly shattered Helga’s mindful monologue like a rock through a mirror.  
  
_Whoa what?_  
  
“Huh?” She could not process if she’d heard that correctly.  
  
Arnold looked up, a tinge of pink in his cheeks from having to clarify.  
  
“I was just saying that I missed seeing you, while I was in San Lorenzo.”  
  
Helga’s stunned, wordless reaction was not helping his confidence as he began to over-explain.  
  
“I mean I missed everyone, really! It was a great trip and I loved helping people but, I sure missed _everyone_ back here a whole lot.”  
_  
Aaaand there was classic Arnold_ , Helga thought, rolling her eyes as he timidly looked back at her.  
  
_Typical goody-two-shoes Arnold._  
  
He noticed the eye roll, mentally jabbing himself for messing that up somehow. Why was it so easy, yet so hard to talk to Helga, of all people? He just couldn’t figure out how he felt about anything right now.  
  
“Well, _everyone_ sure missed you too, Football Head.” Helga said with a hint of sarcasm, doubting his dumb ass would catch the double meaning.  
  
Contrary to Helga’s assumptions; after a couple years maturing, and because he was really paying attention, Arnold 100% caught the double meaning.  
  
With a big confident smile, he looked over at her, then down at her hand, and took it gently with his own. If this wasn’t a response that he understood what she meant, then she was more dense than he was.  
  
He could hear Gerald’s voice echoing in his ears now as he beamed brightly at her.  
  
_“You’re a bold kid, Arnold.”_  
  
Well, if that didn’t just about give her a heart attack, she didn’t know what would at this point.  
  
Helga blinked at him, a hesitant, confused look as he held her hand as they walked. She wanted to scream after seeing his stupid, adorable smile peering back at her, making her want to melt.  
  
Was this really happening? Somehow she was expecting him to turn the tables and tell her how awful she really was so he could just rip her heart up and get it over with already.  
  
No… why was she always expecting that Arnold would say something so harsh like that? This was _Arnold!_  
  
Well, maybe because he’d been harsh like that before. Helga’s eyes tensed at the memory, running before her mind like an old movie reel.  
  
_“You’ll never change! Sometimes I think you refuse to even try. Sometimes I wonder, why I even bother…”_  
  
Helga ground her teeth, furrowed her brow, and ripped her hand away from Arnold’s grip, leaving the boy looking at her with shock.  
  
They stood facing each other, stopped in their tracks, with Helga’s furious eyes piercing daggers at him as if he’d just run over her beloved pet.  
  
“So, you think you can just pick right off where you left off huh? Like nothing happened since you left? Easy peasy lemon squeezy?”  
  
Arnold raised a hand, trying to interject, “That’s not what I—“  
  
“Look buster, I’m not some paper girlfriend you can fold up into some fancy origami any way you like, smooth out all the folds and put on a pretty shelf until you come back at your convenience! Life doesn’t work that way! Paper tends to fade and RIP after that long!!” Helga had her arms raised up high as she ranted at him, now realizing the extent of her analogy and how that must have sounded.  
  
_Goddamnit shut up!_  
  
“Helga, I didn’t mean to imply, ahh,” he was already having trouble finding the right words, feeling pressured to come up with something quickly before she fled again.  
“I just thought that, it would be nice to, I don’t know—“  
  
“Oh SAVE the heroics, Arnold.” Helga interrupted, unwilling for him to make excuses. If he wanted to pretend like nothing happened at the end of 6th grade, he had another thing coming.  
  
“If you thought you could just waltz back into everyone’s lives and patch things back together on your first day, then you’re lack of reality must have gotten even worse in your absence! You can’t always save everyone all the time and play ‘Super Arnold’ like this is some kind of cartoon! And I’m not some damsel in distress you can fix up all pretty to impress everyone with either!”  
  
Helga took a deep breath upon needing to catch it, panting at a very surprised looking Arnold. This was all a bit much, and she just wanted to crawl under a rock at this point.  
  
Arnold gulped, before very hesitantly, very carefully, choosing his next words.  
  
“I dunno… I always thought I was the damsel in distress,” He smiled a nervous, cheesy smile towards her, “and you were always saving me from all these crazy situations I got myself into.”  
  
Helga stared at him for a couple of seconds, then frowned, growling and throwing her arms up again at him.  
  
“How do you DO that?!”  
  
“What?!”  
  
“Make it impossible to be angry at you!”  
  
“I’m sorry! Do you want me to call you some bad words? Would that help?”  
  
“Not if you have to ask permission first!” Helga screamed back at him, realizing that they were both standing in the middle of the sidewalk, yelling at the top of their lungs at each other.  
  
She could see some people peering at them from the windows of the apartments they had stopped in front of.  
  
Flustered, she continued walking, a bewildered Arnold briskly following.  
  
“Helga!”  
  
Sighing dramatically, she stopped to turn and face him, “What?” She asked aggressively.  
  
Arnold gulped. “Look I wasn’t… I mean,” he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “Can we start over?”  
  
“Start over how?” Helga had her arms crossed defensively.  
  
“Just, this conversation?”  
  
“...Go on.”  
  
He took another breath, and Helga could feel an old fashioned Arnold speech coming on. She held her scowl firmly, as if it would protect her from any oncoming heartache.  
  
“Look, I know we had some, disagreements two years ago, and I’m really sorry that I hurt you when I left,”  
  
“Pffftt, don’t flatter yourself, I was just fine and dandy.” Helga scoffed, but Arnold just ignored her.  
  
“But I hate the way we left things, and I feel really bad for not trying to reach out to you more. I just, got discouraged, and scared… that you might not want to talk to me anymore...”  
  
Helga’s brow lifted at the insecure tone as she looked at him, standing there wearing her jacket and opening his heart like it was nothing.  
  
She hesitated, trying to force back her anger as she responded.  
  
“Well... you weren’t the only one who was too scared to reach out so… whatever I guess.” She still honed a scowl as she averted her eyes and kept her arms firmly crossed.  
  
Arnold looked up at her with that, a bit surprised. He stepped a pace closer to her and continued.  
  
“I know we didn’t always get along, and you were angry, and I was stupid…”  
  
“Pshhh some things never change.”  
  
“I know I seem like I know what I’m doing all the time, but the truth is, I didn’t have a clue back then about how to act, and that scared me, and made me feel unsure of myself, and my actions...”  
  
Helga cursed herself.  
  
_You’re letting him make excuses!  
  
But they’re good excuses…. Just hear him out.  
  
Ughh!  
_  
Her eyes narrowed at him but her brow softened.  
  
“I don’t expect us to just pick up where we left off like nothing ever happened, but if you let me, maybe we could forget all of the old stuff, and I could get to know you as you are now.”  
  
Helga kept her position, her gaze fixed securely away from him. “I don’t think you’re going to like the new Helga very much, bucko. She’s cold and cranky-“  
  
“And funny.” Arnold cut in, getting a look from Helga as she trailed on. The cheeky bastard was smiling with that all-knowing gaze.  
  
“...and impatient, and rude-“  
  
“And brilliant.”  
  
“-and NO LESS angry than before! Stop trying to spin me into someone I’m not!”  
  
“I’m not!” Arnold retorted, “I’m not known for lying, am I?”  
  
Oohhh, he had her there. Helga was caught with her mouth open for an argument, but nothing to say back.  
  
He gave her a sly smile as she begrudgingly growled in frustration at him.  
  
“I know a lot has happened since I’ve been gone,” Arnold was stepping even closer to her, “but I don’t care about what other people are saying. Maybe I can hear it from you, someday.”  
  
And now he was so close to her that she could count his eyelashes. This fact alone was nearly stopping her heart.  
  
“But until then, I’m excited to find out who you are as a friend,” he extended a hand to her for a handshake, looking a little nervous as he did.  
   
“Uhh, if that’s okay, I mean.”  
  
Helga slowly uncrossed her arms as she looked down at his hand, leaving him hanging there for a few seconds while she processed all of this.  
  
_Arnold… you fabulous, considerate, adorable, perfect man. How do you manage to make me adore you more than I already do? How do you always have the right thing to say? Even when I’m pushing everyone away, you’re always offering a hand when no one else will. You’re such a goddamn beacon of light in my mess of a life.  
  
But losing that light once before nearly destroyed me… it’s hard to accept it again but… maybe taking this slowly would be beneficial. Maybe it would be okay. See if the real Helga scares you off or not before I dive straight into the pool of ice cream with no snorkel.  
Wow my analogies have gotten weird. I’ll have to tell Phoebe about that one later.  
  
Earth to Helga! The poor guy is standing there, waiting for your response! What’s it gonna be already??_  
  
Arnold wasn’t sure what she would do, as she peered down at his hand with bewilderment, then a scowl, and then a soft look that he couldn’t quite place.  
  
He waited patiently, his hand outstretched, until she looked up at his eyes and he almost jumped. He didn’t know why. Helga scared him in the strangest ways sometimes. Maybe it was her unpredictability.  
  
Speaking of unpredictability, he did not expect Helga’s next move, which was to give an exasperated groan, say “come here, ya big cheesy lug,” and wrap her arms around his neck in a tight hug, nearly choking him.  
   
[](https://sta.sh/0lwb44mzw9j)  
  
_Oof!_ Helga was always stronger than she looked.  
  
He managed to chuckle as she burrowed her face in the crook of his shoulder and loosened her grip enough for him to breath properly.  
  
“I’ll take that as a yes?” He said in a very amused tone, wrapping his arms around to hug her back gently.  
  
“Shut up.” Helga said muffled into his shoulder. She sighed and relaxed a bit as he rubbed the top of her back.  
  
“Sure, Helga.” And he did shut up, mostly because she couldn’t see his smile.  
  
Helga would never admit it to anyone, but right there, in that moment, she knew how much she needed that damn hug.  
  
She’d needed a hug like that for a long time.  
  
If only she knew how much he’d needed one like that too.  
  
Arnold’s calm and steady breathing was so soothing and helped her to calm down as well. It just felt nice… and safe, and… now she was getting old memories stuck in her head and willing herself not to start crying.  
  
_Crimety, maybe this hug was a terrible idea.  
_  
Like the gentleman he was, Arnold waited for her to pull away first. She shook her head a bit to compose herself, hiding her eyes from him. It wasn’t because her eyes felt glossy or anything, no way.  
  
“We should, really start walking again before your family starts to worry.” Helga suggested, and Arnold just raised his eyebrows.  
  
“Oh, we actually passed Sunset Arms a while ago.”  
  
“What?” Helga finally looked up, taking in her surroundings and realizing that they were standing outside of her own house. She hadn’t even noticed at all, and that shocked her.  
  
Her surprised face made Arnold chuckle.  
  
“It’s alright. We were having kind of a deep discussion, and stuff…” he scratched his arm nervously.  
  
Helga looked at him, nodding, and not really knowing what to say. She was starting to grip the railing of her front door and fidgeting.  
  
“Well, I’ll see ya around, Football Head.” She raised a hand as she began to turn around and head up her stoop.  
  
Arnold, who had shoved his hands back into his pants pockets for warmth, felt something familiar, and suddenly blurted out, “Wait- hey Helga?”  
  
She turned to look at him curiously.  
  
“We should eat lunch together tomorrow at school!”  
  
“Oh, uh--” Helga stammered.  
  
“I mean I think we’re Lenny’s only friends right now, and we sorta owe him.” Arnold explained.  
  
Helga curved a brow down. “Oh, right. Radish head. Good reasoning.”  
  
“And also… because I owe you too.”  
  
Helga just scoffed, “You don’t owe me anything, Arnoldo.”  
  
“I owe you at the _very least_ $20.” Arnold said, and Helga could hear the smile playing on his face.  
  
_That goddamn cheeky bastard!_  
  
Her shocked expression was all he needed to confirm that theory, and he just laughed as he stepped up onto of the steps.  
  
“I’ll pay you back tomorrow. Can you wear this, too?”  
  
Helga’s eyes lit up even more as he pulled a familiar pink ribbon from his pocket and reached over to give it to her.  
  
She blinked wide eyed and took it carefully, a memory playing in her head and giving her deja vu. A deja vu that made her heart swell.  
  
“Y-yeah… Thanks Arnold.” was all that a flabbergasted Helga could utter out as he smiled brightly in response, turned around, and waved her a goodbye.  
  
She waved back, the excess of pink material blowing from her hand in the wind.  
_  
What...  
  
What...was..._  
  
She shut her eyes tightly once Arnold was out of view, tears that were held back finally flowing freely down her cheeks as she did so, and she grabbed that stupid bow like it was her lifeline.  
  
 Like it was Arnold’s hand.  
  
Helga took in a deep breath and just gave one of her signature swoons.  
  
_Ohhhmygod this boy is going to kill me!_  
  
[](https://sta.sh/05kp3s22vv3)  
  
**END OF EPISODE**

* * *

  


**Extra Scene #1:**

Arnold made the walk home feeling light as a feather. It felt like after such a long day full of discord and drama, a weight had been lifted from his chest, and that the next day would be okay. He was even looking forward to it, if the content smile on his face wasn’t evident when he opened the door to Sunset Arms.

The hoard of animals that scrambled into the house with him as he opened the door didn’t phase him, except as a nostalgia wave.

What did surprise him however, was the tiny robot that made its way through. Or was it one of those drone things that he’d heard about?

The white propeller robot swooped in and nearly sliced through Arnold’s hair as he ducked just in time. It rotated in the air to face him, and he noticed a small screen attached to drone’s face. The image of a woman suddenly flickered onto it. Arnold was wide eyed at the technology floating before him.

“Whoops! Sorry Arnold! I thought that was Ernie opening the door, and he’s far too short to worry about clonkin in the head!” The video on screen of the new tenet explained.

“Hey I’m right here ya know!” Ernie complained, appearing at Arnold’s side.

The drone did a comical look around, even extending a tiny arm to make the gesture.

“Ernie is that you? I don’t think my drone can pick up your signal. Hmmmm, oh well! Must just be owls or something!” The drone did a funny shrug as the on screen Cora laughed, her sharp jaw lines twitching.

“Errrrrrrrr!!” Ernie was now leaping up and down trying to grab at the laughing robot in the air, but to no avail.

“Miss Cresselia, are you controlling this thing from your room or something?” Arnold asked, looking at the drone with fascination.

“Nope sonny, I’m at work right now! But I still keep an eye on things here with good old Cooper 3.0!”

The drone did a friendly salute with its tiny arm. As she explained, Arnold could now tell that she was currently walking through a bustling crowd of burly men with prison uniforms on.

“I’m all about safety and security! Especially since Oscar never locks the doors!”

“Hey, I lost my keys, so sue me!” Oscar’s whiny voice belted out from the kitchen.

“That’s the third set this month, you bum!” Ernie scolded.

“I am not a bum! I have a job! And you hurt my feelings. I’m going to eat the rest of this cake now to cheer myself up!”

“Oscar! You keep your mitts off my carrot cake!” The drone whirled in place and suddenly was flying into the kitchen. It nearly grazed the top of Phil’s bald head as he walked out from it.

“Confounded machines!” He spat out, rubbing his head and turning to see Arnold standing there.

“Tallman! You’re home!” He rushed over.

Arnold sighed. He’d hope that nickname would be forgotten by the end of the day. There were too many nicknames to keep track of today.

“Hey grandpa.” Arnold smiled.

“Soooo… how was your first day back?”

Before Arnold could answer, the drone came zooming back into view, almost knocking into them. Phil yelled some obscenities and waved a fist at it angrily.

“Arnold! I have a surprise for you!” Cora said on screen, appearing to be in the middle of putting some man in a headlock. He had a tattoo on his head that read “Mamma’s boy” and tears in his eyes.  
Cora finally dropped him and shouted something like, “and the next time you take Victor’s pudding without asking, it’ll be worse!”

Arnold and Phil looked at each other with raised eyebrows before Cora turned back towards her screen with a smile.

“Aye, sorry about that! Anyways, like I said, I’ve got a surprise! Here let me patch em’ through now.”

Arnold blinked, confused at what was happening, but after tapping buttons on her side, and screaming threats at some random inmate, Cora’s image disappeared and the image of someone else popped on screen. Or rather, two someones.

“Mom! Dad!” Arnold’s face lit up at the sight of his parents on screen in front of him.

“Arnold!” They both greeted back, looking like they were in the city at the moment.

“Wow technology sure is booming these days! Before ya know it, we’ll all have our heads in jars with robot bodies!” Phil exclaimed wildly.

“Hello to you too dad.” Miles gave a patient laugh, and Phil gave his son a wink.

“How have things been in San Lorenzo?” Arnold asked excitedly.

“Oh the same old thing here, dear,” Stella said, and Miles curved a brow at her.

“Excuse me, but the hijacking monkey was not _same old_.”

Stella waved him off as if to signal to Arnold ‘don’t worry about that’, and continued.

“The internet here is really shaky, so we’d much rather hear about how your first day in high school went! Tell us all about it!”

“It was…” Arnold thought for a moment, trying to come up with a one word adjective to describe the insanity that was high school.  
  
Both his parents and grandpa all sort of leaned in to hear what he had to say.

“Did you impress the kingdom, slay the ogre, free the jester, and console the princess?” Now his grandma was making her way into the hallway, dressed as some knight with a cape and tights.

Arnold laughed as Phil cried “Pookie!” and swiped her sword away from her that she was waving about.

Arnold had dealt with so many people clambering for his attention, circling through friend cliques and drama and all sorts of crazy shenanigans. His socks were still soggy, he was exhausted from running around all day, and he was overwhelmed at everything and everyone he had to remember.

But then he remembered his silver lining to the storm that was high school, and just smiled.

“Good. It was a good day.” Arnold decided, and his parents and grandparents all lit up to hear it.

“Hah! I knew it! Fork it over, buster.” His mom extended an expected hand towards his dad, who sighed and gave up a wrapped chocolate bar in defeat.

Arnold curved a brow at his parents on screen.  
“Were you two making bets on how my first day would turn out?”

“Well if it was anything like my first day of high school, it was bound to end up full of disasters!” Miles shrugged, a goofy innocent smile on his face as his wife proudly ripped open the chocolate bar and took a bite.

“Well, don’t get me wrong, there were a fair share of “disasters”. Arnold pointed out, and Miles looked towards Stella with an apprehensive cocky look.

“But I don’t think I could have asked for a different outcome, in the end.”

Stella looked towards Miles with narrowed eyes, debating for a second, before breaking the bar in half and giving it up to Miles, who seemed way too thrilled with the outcome of “a tie” in this wager.

“I’m so glad to hear that Arnold.” Stella said.

“You made it through the shark pit!” Miles said with a mouthful of chocolate.

Arnold just chuckled as he nodded.

“Did you make out with Helga too?” Miles blurted out, and Stella elbowed him hard in the side as if they’d already talked about not bringing it up earlier.  
  
Miles was coughing in reaction and spitting out, “Make _up!_ That’s what I said, did you _make up_ with Helga at all? Heheh.” He smiled innocently at his glaring wife.

Arnold was just staring unblinking at the screen, a rush of warm embarrassment flushing over his face as his grandparents cackled in the background. He wondered briefly if he could find a new pair of parents trapped in the jungle.

“I mean, I talked with her, yeah.” Arnold answered tensely to the four nosy faces grinning at him.

“Looks like a bit more than just a talk, eh Tallman?” His grandpa poked him naggingly in the shoulder.

“Wha-“

“I declare! A kiss from the maiden is in order for the hero coming to her rescue!” his grandma lowered her sword onto Arnold’s head as if she were knighting him.

“Pookie you’re going to decapitate somebody with that thing!” Phil started chasing after her in order to take the sword back, but she began an insane cackle as she marched up the stairs, leaving a very perplexed Arnold with the drone.

“What, no!” Arnold turned around clumsily to face his parents on screen, flustered as all hell.  
“Why would you assume that?”

“Just an educated guess.” His cheeky mom giggled.

“Also I’m pretty sure you don’t own a pink jacket.” Miles chuckled along with his wife.

Arnold blinked and looked down at his shoulders, completely forgetting about what he was wearing, and that he forgot to give it back to Helga.

_Oh good grief._

 

__

“That’s not— I mean yeah it’s hers but, she just gave it to me because I was cold!” Arnold stammered, realizing that they were going to tease him no matter what he’d say. The grinning faces on the screen weren’t helping him keep his cool either, and he soon found himself grabbing the drone and looking it over.

“How do you turn this thing off..” Arnold muttered as his parents just continued to laugh at him.

“Heart rate pace and temperature raised by 33%! My advice is a cold shower. Remember to take care of yourself!”

Arnold sighed for the 400th time that day as Watch-Mom became just another unwanted and embarrassing parental unit. He quickly decided he had enough of those in his life, thank you very much.

 

* * *

 

  
**Extra Scene #2:**

After an interesting meal at the dinner table with his grandparents and borders, Arnold stumbled upstairs to his bedroom, happy to finally be done with the day.

He had his phone in hand as he walked in, adding the rest of the contacts he picked up from earlier that day. Once he was done, a thought struck him.

“Auughh! I didn’t get Helga’s number!” He pressed a palm against his forehead.

Abner perked up from his spot on the floor and made a subtle oinking noise. The pig suddenly looked absolutely delighted. He must have just realized that Arnold was back.

“I guess I’ll have to get it tomorrow…” Arnold was scrolling through the contacts list mindlessly, disappointed in himself for not asking her during that entire walk home.

As he passed by the P’s in his list, he noticed her name fly by.

Wait….

He quickly scrolled back up. There it was. Helga’s name with her number. How did she?  
Arnold racked his brain and thought back to when she was fiddling around on his new phone.  
  
She must have inputted it in sneakily.

She even had a little profile picture attached to her number. He tapped it to get a full view and laughed. This was not a picture of her shoes like she had said. It was of her face, and she was sticking her tongue out with a rude glare towards the camera.

“Hah, perfect.” He said out loud, admiring her silly expression in the photo. Totally Helga.

Arnold set down his backpack and began to take off the jacket he was still wearing. Helga’s pink hoodie.

Even though he’d given back her bow, he was strangely excited to have something else of hers to hang onto for now. Kind of stupid, he told himself.

_We’re just going to work on being friends. Stop being all mushy._

Still, at the very least, it would be a good ice breaker when he saw her tomorrow at lunch.  
He felt something in one of the pockets as he handled it, and curiously reached inside to see what it was. He pulled out what felt like paper, and his eyes slowly centered on the name written on this very disheveled envelope.

It was his own handwriting.

Realization struck him as he looked inside, finding the contents of the letter he’d written to her two years ago, and that photo of his young self in the jungle with his parents smiling.

A broad smile crept willingly onto his oblong face as he looked down at it.

Maybe there was still hope for them after all.

For the old soul with the football shaped head.

And the cynical, sassy girl with the pink bow.

 

* * *

**END**

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINISHED A STORY OMG.
> 
> Anyways, hope you liked this "episode". As I've said before, I plan to write other stories from the same universe.  
> Suggestions are always appreciated for episode topics. I have a word doc that is nearly 100 pages long full of episode ideas and random scenes I've written out.  
> ...It's a bit insane.  
> The ending with Helga holding her ribbon was always meant to be the true ending. I just got carried away when I thought of more stuff. (As usual)  
> So enjoy the extra scenes!
> 
> My goal now is to draw up some character reference sheets and turn-arounds for the characters before I post any new episodes.  
> I also wanna comb through the first few chapters of this and make some edits because I've improved a lot with my writing since I've started this. 
> 
> You can keep up with me on my DeviantArt account: https://arrku.deviantart.com/  
> Or Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/arrrku/  
> (I'm too lazy to keep up with the Tumblr) 
> 
> Thanks as always for the support. I do this for my own indulgence, but nice comments always motivate me to work faster. :]
> 
> !Easter Egg! Here's more detailed sketch of the hug: https://sta.sh/0w36kebinfj

**Author's Note:**

> I like to add derpy doodles to every chapter! If you want to see a scene from this fanfic drawn out, simply request it in the comments and I'll see what I can do!  
> Open to all critiques, big and small, spelling and formatting. I’m a hobby writer and more of a visual artist so this is out of my normal experience, but I’m happy to learn. Thanks!


End file.
